


You Get One Do-Over, Rick Grimes

by Falln_Grce



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Do-Over, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Not Really Character Death, OFC - Freeform, OMC - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-04-16 17:07:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 98,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14169558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falln_Grce/pseuds/Falln_Grce
Summary: After losing the last of his family, and facing the apocalypse alone, Rick makes the decision to stop fighting.But instead of an ending, he wakes up in his house on the morning of the car chase. Taking the second chance for what it is, Rick will do things differently this time. He'll do them better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen a few "time travel" fics for Rick and Daryl, but I wanted to see what they could do with some preparation, instead of Rick waking up in the hospital again.
> 
> Comments are always appreciated, and will usually keep me writing as long as the muse stays active.
> 
> Artwork for this fic can be found on a Tumblr made specifically for this story: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rickssecondchance
> 
> ANYONE JUST NOW JOINING FROM JUSTIFIED: We don't pick up with the boys until chapter 22. Just a head's up.

The sound of birds chirping woke him. That was the first thing he was aware of, long since getting used to taking in his surroundings as much as possible when he was waking up. Birds. And soft sheets, nice pillow, a fluffy blanket, gentle sunlight against his eyelids, and a cool breeze from the bedroom window.

 

The problem with that being that Rick was fully aware there were no windows in the tunnel they’d found to hole up in. Or a bed. Or birds. And definitely no sunlight.

 

In fact, Rick shouldn’t be waking up at all. He’d lost them. Everyone. This time yesterday, Rick, Daryl, Carl, and Judith were the only family members still alive. The herds and humans had seen to that. Carl had been the first to go yesterday, too many walkers had cornered him and Judith in their camp. Daryl had rushed to try and grab his little girl but her arm had already been torn open from their teeth by the time he got there. As it was, he’d been bitten twice before turning back for Rick.

 

Daryl had to force Rick from their camp. Carl was already gone, but Rick couldn’t stop staring at the swarm. The reality of the loss too much for his mind to handle. Daryl got them moving while clutching Judith. Slowly at first, then running for what felt like hours.

 

They found an abandoned mine and Daryl led them through the tunnels until they came to a small nook with a steel door. Settling Rick in a corner, the hunter had pushed Judith into his arms as he worked on locking the door from the inside. Feeling around, Daryl found a Coleman camping lantern and thanked whatever God was left for the invention of batteries. The light wasn’t much, but it was enough to see Rick’s eyes glued to him.

 

Rick held his daughter tight to his chest and felt the adrenalin start to tremble out of him. He didn’t think he could stand back up if he tried so he focused on rubbing soothing circles across Judith’s back. She had passed out at some point and didn’t even stir when Rick’s hands stroked up and down her arms. Her wet arms. They’d been running for a while, and Rick had sweat dripping from his hair. But he knew the wetness on Judith’s arms wasn’t sweat. He knew.

 

Daryl slumped down next to him, reaching over to run a shaky hand down Judith’s curls. “I love you, ya know.”

 

Rick shot his head over to stare at Daryl, shock and a little despair on his face. Of course Rick knew that. Their friendship had evolved into something more a long time ago. Daryl hardly ever voiced his feelings, but when he did, they were quiet whispers full of conviction. Rick knew that the prolonged trauma of their experiences probably had a part in their getting together, a bond formed out of them sharing constant, unending stress. And he knew if they were back in the old world some doctor somewhere would try to talk to him about codependency.

 

But that world was dead, and Rick also knew with everything inside himself that he loved Daryl too much to ever leave him. And that was when Rick noticed the blood steadily flowing from Daryl’s shoulder.

 

“No. Daryl, no,” he sobbed, reaching out to drag the hunter closer until they cradled their little girl between them. He rested his forehead against Daryl’s and felt the tears start to fall. Dipping his chin forward for gentle kisses against the man’s cheeks, and finally landing on soft lips.

 

“I don’t know how much time we got,” Daryl started, “But this is where we have to leave you.” He grabbed Rick’s hair and dragged him into a kiss more forceful than the one he’d received before. “I love you. And I love our little girl. And I loved Carl.”

 

Rick shook his head as more tears fell from his cheeks onto his daughter’s hair. He tried to keep from sobbing out loud, but a quick glance to Daryl’s face showed his hunter was also weeping. This was too much. It was all too much. He couldn’t do this anymore. He wouldn’t. “Together. We do this together.” His voice sure and tone definite.

 

Daryl started to protest, but Rick silenced him with soft assurances. Judith still hadn’t woken up, and Rick knew from her stillness that she wasn’t going to. He watched as the hunter pulled a gun into his lap, sliding out the magazine to check the number of bullets. Just enough. Rick’s hand covered his, and he slowly pulled the gun away.

 

Holding Daryl’s eyes, he smiled softly. “I love you, too. And I’ll never leave you,” he promised. “We do this together.”

 

It was quick. Daryl nodded and closed his eyes. Rick didn’t look at him when he pulled the trigger. Didn’t look at Judith when he took care of her. He kept his eyes on the wall in front of him as he brought the gun to his own temple and fired his last shot.

 

So, the birds. That shouldn’t be here. And then another sound that couldn’t possibly be real. A cell phone. Rick’s cell phone. On the nightstand next to his head. In his and Lori’s bedroom back home. Rick opened his eyes to the very real room, distantly aware the ringing had stopped.

 

He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The phone started ringing again. Picking it up, Rick hit the answer button and brought it to his ear, “hello?”

 

“Hey brother, you planning on getting your ass down here today?” Rick didn’t answer. The voice on the other end belonged to a dead man. Rick might have lost his mind in the prison a lifetime ago with that damn phone, but he wasn’t about to be fooled again.

 

“Rick?” Shane called into the phone, a little louder this time. “Can you hear me?”

 

Looking around Rick took in the bedroom. Everything was the same as it was that morning. The last morning he remembered being in this house before the coma. Lori was gone, already having left to take Carl to school. Normally, Rick would have already been awake and dressed based on the amount of light coming in the windows. If he was just waking up, he must have overslept.

 

But he hadn’t overslept. He had shot himself in the fucking head. He should be dead. What the fuck was going on?

 

“Rick? Brother are you okay? You hurt?” Shane’s tone taking on a concerned note.

 

“Ye-yeah. I’m fine.” Rick stuttered out. “Not really feeling well.” It wasn’t a lie. He honestly felt like he’d been hit by a mack truck. Not physically though. He got up from the bed and headed out the door to the top floor landing.

 

“Shit,” Shane commiserated. “I’ll tell the boss you ain’t comin’ in today. Want me to bring somethin’ by?”

 

Rick frowned down at the phone in his hand then glanced around the hallway. Logically, he knew this was real. He was standing in his house talking on the phone to his partner. There were no walkers. The world hadn’t gone to hell in a handbasket. Emotionally though, he’d just lost both of his children, shot the love of his life, and then killed himself. Emotionally, Rick was not prepared to deal with this right now.

 

“No. It’s fine. I’ll be fine,” He told Shane. He decided he wasn’t going to deal with any of this. Looking down at the phone again, Rick hit the home screen to check the date. Same day as the car chase. Rick would remember that date forever. “Tell the boss I’m taking all my leave. Family emergency.”

 

Shane sputtered into the phone, “The fuck? What family emergency? Is Lori okay? Carl?” Rick almost felt bad about the panic in the man’s voice. But then he remembered that Judith had come at least two months too soon to be his, and he’d done the math. He hadn’t been in a coma in the hospital while the world crumbled for that long. A week tops. Any more than that and his body would have started giving out from the lack of food and water. Which means the affair started sooner.

 

“They’re fine,” Rick grunted out. “Just other family stuff I need to take care of.” He didn’t really want to keep talking anymore. If this is what he thought it was, and he was getting another shot at this, he had things to do. And being on the phone with the man who was fucking his wife wasn’t one of them. Shane didn’t seem like he remembered anything. If Lori did, Rick was pretty sure she’d be here right now.

 

He didn’t know about the rest of the group, but if it was just him, he had to get started preparing now. His coma had lasted just under five weeks. The first three weeks, nothing had changed. But in the fourth week, the walkers had started, and after trying to fight them off, the military had written the town off as a lost cause and had started killing everyone. Which means Rick had just under four weeks to get ready.

 

“Alright man. I’ll tell the boss you’re gonna be out a while.” Shane sounded like he was placating him now. Rick really couldn’t care less, rolling his eyes as he made his way down the stairs to check the kitchen pantry for supplies.

 

“Yeah, thanks. I gotta go.” Rick ended the call before Shane could reply. He tossed the phone on the kitchen counter and started pulling the canned goods from the shelves. There wasn’t much. Some vegetables, beef stew, crushed tomatoes. A bag of rice, and some potatoes, crackers, pasta, and chips. Not much at all.

 

Leaving his haul on the kitchen table, he walked into his office and opened his laptop. Time to get started on preparations. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. He quickly navigated to doomsday prepper websites and started perusing their supply lists. Most of it was stuff their group had already prioritized early on. Non-perishables, water purification systems, hygiene products, camping gear, cold weather items, and weapons. A lot of weapons.

 

Rick knew that the weapons he had to think about now weren’t just going to be for the walkers, but also for the human garbage they’d come across. Walkers were easy enough with melee weapons. The humans were going to call for heavier firepower though. Those were going to be harder to come by, so he set the thought aside for now and pulled up a new tab for his Amazon account.

 

He didn’t have much time, but he had enough for an online order. Prime had same day shipping anyway.

 

Just under $4000 later, double checking his cart against the prepper lists a few times, and he had a massive delivery headed his way. It was enough for now. He still had a list of local items to grab, but he’d need the duffels and gas cans he’d ordered to haul those.      

 

Rick knew it couldn’t hurt to take a look around the military surplus just outside of town, maybe the local hunting store too. Opening the desk drawer for a pen and paper to jot down a list of helpful locations, he noticed the manila envelope peeking out from under a stack of pads. He rarely went in this drawer, but it wasn’t something he’d noticed before, so he pulled it out. Opening the flap, he had just enough time to read the word ‘Divorce’ before the sound of keys in the front door had him scrambling to shove the papers back in and bury the envelope back under the legal pads.

 

“Rick,” Lori’s voice called out as he heard her footsteps headed up the stairs. “Rick, you up there?”

 

He stepped out of the office before she made it halfway. “No, I’m right here.” It was the same tone of voice he’d used with Shane. He felt the same detached feeling come over him as he watched her turn back to look at him. It wasn’t with any surprise, but he realized then that he didn’t look at her and see family. She was just a woman. The mother of his child, sure. But just a woman.

 

In the years since this day, he’d moved on. He’d grieved, and he’d gone a little crazy from the loss, but he’d moved on. Lori was alive, standing right in front of him. But she’d also been planning on leaving. Hell, she’d already moved on if the papers in that envelope meant anything.

 

“Shane said you were acting strange,” she frowned up at him. “What’s going on?”

 

Rick couldn’t help the little chuckle that escaped. “Shane said? When did you talk to Shane?” God, had he really not noticed before? How long had it been going on?

 

He had a sudden flashback to this day from the first time around. Sitting in the car with Shane. What was it he’d said about the girl he’d been seeing? That she’d tell him to talk about things with her. And Rick had thought he’d just been sharing in solidarity about how Lori would always say the same thing to him. Speak. Shit, he’d had no idea at the time that they’d been talking about the same fucking woman.

 

Lori either didn’t notice his mood, or didn’t care. “God Rick. He called me this morning when you didn’t show up for work.” She threw her hands in the air with a huff and walked off towards the kitchen. “What’s going on with you? He said you were taking leave? I didn’t know about this? Why didn’t you tell me?” She stopped at the table and looked down at the food sorted on top. “What the hell is this?”

 

Rick followed her to the entryway of the kitchen but didn’t come in. “I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t about you,” he told her. Calmly, no anger, just words. “And I thought I’d do some shopping today so I wanted to see what we already had.”

 

Lori turned back to face him, incredulous. “Not about me?” She seethed. “How is you not going to work not abou-” The ringing of Rick’s cell from the counter cut her off.

 

Crossing the room, Rick picked up the phone. Unknown number, but the area code was for a couple counties over. He clicked answer. “Hello?”

 

“Rick Grimes?” came a familiar voice he hadn’t heard in far too long. “Hello? Is this the number for Rick Grimes?”

 

He dropped into the closest chair. “Hershel?”

 

“Hello, Son,” came the warm voice from the other end. “It feels like only yesterday for me, but I have the feeling it’s been a lot longer for you.” Rick couldn’t believe it. This man had become something of a father figure for him. His loss had hardened something inside of Rick, and now he was there on the phone.

 

For the first time since he woke up this morning, Rick thought he might cry. “Years,” he replied, voice trembling slightly.

 

“Well that’s just fine, then.” Hershel was smiling, Rick could hear it. “Maggie remembers, but no one else from my side. Yours?”

 

Lori was staring at him when he glanced up. Her face showed she was plainly confused with the fact that he was so obviously affected by the caller. “No, just me,” he told him.

 

Hershel was quiet for a few moments, then “The way I see it, we have just under a month to get ready. You know the farm will hold us for a while, and the prison won’t be an option just yet. But Maggie and I are looking into a few alternative security measures. She’s been researching all morning.”

 

Rick let out a tired laugh. “Yeah, doin’ something like that here, too. Got a bunch of supplies coming from online.” He ran a hand over his face, then stood up to leave the room, making sure to dodge Lori on his way out. “Was gonna head out to check on some local stores.” This was good. When the supplies came, he could load them in a U-Haul and take them down to the farm. Actually, scratch that. He didn’t want Lori asking questions about him stockpiling. Especially if she’d think he’d lost his mind because of it. “Hey, now that I’m thinking about it, send me your address, I’ll change the delivery location to the farm. Keep all the supplies together from the start.”

 

“That sounds good, Rick. We have more than enough room in the barn. Let me know if you want me to come with you to those stores.” God, yes, Rick wanted Hershel to come with him. He felt so lonely all of a sudden. Then, as if answering Rick’s unspoken plea, Hershel continued, “I can swing up to your town tomorrow if that works. I thought for now I’d try to track down some of the others.”

 

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Rick sighed, making his way back up the stairs to get dressed. “If you could try to reach Dar- Daryl. If you can find him…What if he doesn’t rem-” He sat down on the bed, holding a pair of jeans in his fist as the hurt in his chest overwhelmed him. He needed Daryl here. He needed him. What would he do if his hunter didn’t remember?

 

“Don’t worry, Rick. I’ll find him. I’ll find as many as I can.” Hershel must have heard the desperation in his voice because his soothing tone was exactly what Rick needed right now. As he was about to thank the man, his phone beeped with an incoming call.

 

“Hershel, I’ve got to let you go, Carl’s school’s calling.” Rick explained. “I’ll save this number and call you tomorrow. Tell Maggie to text me so I have hers too.”

 

Clicking over to the next call, Rick was a little apprehensive, “Yes?”

 

“Hello, I’m looking for Mr. Rick Grimes?” The cheerful administrator asked.

 

“Speaking. Is this about my son?” Tucking the phone against his shoulder, Rick quickly pulled up the jeans and sat to pull on his socks and boots.

 

“Yes, Mr. Grimes,” came the cheery tone. Rick hated her already. “This is Cindy at your son’s school. He’s here in the front office and is pretty adamant we call you. He’s worked himself into quite a state.”

 

The laughing lilt to her voice pissed him off and he tried to keep the gruff tone out of his reply. He was not successful. “Then put him on the phone so I can talk to him.”

 

“Dad?” came Carl’s shaky voice. His son had obviously been crying. Rick was going to have a little talk with Cindy first chance he got.

 

“I’m here, son,” Rick murmured back into the phone. “I’m here.”

 

“Dad. Please come get me,” Carl begged. Rick knew his son was still crying, obviously panicking about something. “You can’t go to work today. Please. It has to be today. Something bads going to happen.” Rick knew right then that Carl had remembered. His son was here with him.

 

Shushing his son’s increasingly frantic pleas, Rick spoke soothingly into the cell. “It’s ok, Carl. I’m coming to get you. I’m here. I remember too.”

 

Carl’s end of the conversation had dissolved into sobbing and Rick’s heart ached for the pain he must be in. Cindy came back on the line and assured Rick that she would take Carl to the nurse’s office to wait with him until Rick got there. He figured he’d give Cindy a pass just this once. He was already out of the house and opening his truck door by the time the call ended. Lori had followed him out on the porch and was trying to talk to him as he pulled out of the drive. For the second time that morning, Rick rolled his eyes.

 

Signing Carl out of school took no time. The tearful reunion with his son took a little longer. Carl was a bit subdued, but perked up a little when Rick told him they were headed to the military surplus store. He started telling Rick about this story Daryl had shared one time about living off MRE’s for a while, and that they should totally stock up on those.

 

Rick recounted his Amazon splurge from that morning, listing all of the things he could remember putting in the online cart. Carl started laughing “Mom’s gonna be so pissed when she finds out.”

 

He didn’t call his son on the language. In the here and now, Carl was a boy. But as far as his memories and experiences went, Rick knew he hadn’t been a little boy in a long time. Not since the prison, really. Noticing Carl had started to fidget, Rick pulled himself out of his musing and asked what was wrong.

 

“It’s just… I gotta tell you, but you’re not going to like it.” Carl looked straight ahead, face turned into a pensive scowl. Ricked huffed out a laugh at how much his son seemed to be channeling Daryl’s facial expressions. It wasn’t a surprise. The two had a bond strong enough that Carl genuinely looked at Daryl as a second father. He’d told Rick as much about a year ago.

 

“Carl, no secrets. Remember?” Rick reached over and ruffled his boy’s hair, chuckling when his hand was swatted away.

 

“Right.” Carl sat up straight in the seat and nodded, gaze unwavering from the road in front of them. “Mom and Shane.” He cleared his throat. “That’s a thing that’s happening. Like, it’s happening now. It didn’t start after the walkers.”

 

Rick nodded his head a few times. The anger and hurt he expected to feel didn’t come. Just that strange detached feeling from before. If anything, he was a little pissed they were stupid enough to let it slip to Carl, however that happened. But other than that, nothing.

 

“I know. I realized that this morning.” Rick took a deep breath and let it out. “Look Carl, I found something this morning. It’s not that I want to tell you, but no secrets.” Another deep breath. “Your mom had a lawyer draw up divorce papers. It can’t be like it was the first time. I can’t try to make it work anymore.”

 

“Dad, no.” Carl shifted in his seat immediately until he was twisted in his seatbelt, facing Rick. “Of course not. I mean, you and Daryl, ya know. It’s just… Well, are we going to take her with us?”

 

“I think…” Rick started. “I was thinking I’d confront her about it now, and see where we ended up then.” If he’d been sitting at a table instead of driving the truck, his leg would already be bouncing. “The only thing could go wrong, the way I figure, is Judy. If your mom and Shane are together now, before everything, Shane might not lose it later. He still might, and I haven’t decided if that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

 

Rick knew with the way things were changing he wouldn’t get the forewarning of memories to tell him when Shane would come after him. Hell, he might never. But he couldn’t shake the way he felt talking to the two of them this morning. They weren’t family.

 

“She’ll probably want to go with Shane, anyway.” Carl kicked at the floorboard as he resituated himself in his seat. Rick was amused to see the slight pout on his face when he realized his legs weren’t long enough to reach the ground anymore.

 

“Hey, why do you say that?” Rick nudged the boy’s shoulder. “Your mom loves you, you know that.”

 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s been treating me like I’m a brat for a while now.” Carl was slumped in the seat. On any other kid, Rick would say he was being a petulant child. But this was Carl. The boy he’d watch grow into an amazing young man. “I mean, I get it. Before this, I was a kid and complained about things. But I don’t think complaining about how she would leave me alone in the car when she went up to Shane’s apartment to _visit_ is the same as being a brat. And now I know what she was visiting for. Or when she would leave me alone at the quarry to go off into the woods with him. Just, I’m done with it.”

 

Rick was floored. That little anger he felt earlier at Shane and Lori for Carl’s awareness was a tiny flame to the hate he felt in this moment. “Son, I didn’t know any of that.” Rick tried to keep his voice level as he spoke. “I’m so sorry that happened. You know I would’ve never let that happen if I knew.”

 

“Yeah, I know.” He sounded resigned to the whole affair. Like he’s dealt with the feelings a long time ago, and now it was a distant memory. “It’s fine though, Dad. I talked to Daryl about it all, so that helped. I’m not upset about it, really. I’m just trying to get used to the idea that we might not have Judith this time.”

 

They pulled into the parking lot of the store and Carl already had his door open with a grin on his face. “Come on, Dad. Let’s go buy Daryl a shit ton of MREs. If he doesn’t ask you to marry him after that, I’ll kick him out of the family.”

 

Rick laughed at his son’s sudden shift in mood and followed him inside. They did end up buying a pallet of MRE’s along with an extra camping grill, and more winter gear. The best find was when Carl noticed a beautiful crossbow on the wall behind the counter, a twin of the Striker Daryl had picked up along the way. Rick nearly cleaned them out on bolts and was proud of keeping a straight face when the staff gave him alarmed looks. Thank God for credit cards.

 

Climbing back in the truck, Rick pulled his phone out and handed it to Carl. “Hit redial on the last unknown number and put it on speaker.” Carl shot a puzzled look at his dad, but did as he was told.

 

“Rick?” Hershel’s voice rang out in the cab. Rick placed a calming hand on Carl’s shoulders when he heard the boy suck in a gasp.

 

“Hey Hershel, I’ve got Carl here with me. He remembers everything too.” Rick smiled as the two greeted each other, and squeezed his shoulder again when he noticed Carl wiping unshed tears from his eyes. “We stopped by that store I told you about, headed your way now to drop off some supplies.”

 

“That’s perfect timing actually,” Hershel laughed into the phone. “It’ll take ya about how long to get here? Hour and a half?”

 

“Yeah about that.” Rick looked up at the road he was on. He’d be able to navigate back to the farm from memory after his time there. “We’re a little closer since we’re leaving from the store instead of the house.”

 

“Good. Good. I’ve got Annette cooking up a meal for some friends headed our way.” And wasn’t that the best thing Rick had heard all day. He’d been so focused on getting things ready, he’d forgotten about food. Habits from the apocalypse. “You and Carl had best not eat before you get here. There’ll be more than enough to go around.” Rick agreed not to stop anywhere, even though the thought of food had his stomach grumbling loud enough for Carl to snicker at him.

 

The drive took just under two hours. Rick had gotten slightly lost one time, but he blamed that on having never come to the farm from this direction, and the missed exit. Pulling into the dirt driveway, he could see movement around the side of the house. Carl jumped out of the truck and launched himself up the porch to meet Hershel as he came out. Maggie not far behind. Rick made his own way over and forced his lungs to take deep breaths as he greeted the family he thought he’d never see again.

 

After the hugs and tears were out of the way, Maggie chased Carl down into the yard in a wild game of tag. Of course Maggie won, and Rick laughed as Maggie grabbed his son from behind, lifted him off the ground, and swung him around in circles. Much to the boy’s vehement displeasure.

 

He was laughing so hard that he almost missed the two motorcycles off to the side of the house. Hershel saw his gaze and placed a grounding hand on Rick’s arm. “Son, I think there’s someone here who want’s to see you.”

 

No sooner had Hershel finished speaking than the front door creaked open. Rick turned to look and immediately had to bend over to brace against his legs to keep from falling. He couldn’t stop the groan that came out of his mouth. Anguish and hope warring for ownership.

 

Daryl was off the porch in seconds, striding over to Rick and pulling him up in a crushing hug. Rick knew they were being watched, he knew the embrace was lasting way too long by any normal standards. But this wasn’t a normal situation, and Daryl had just died last night.

 

“We’re together.” Daryl whispered in his ear. “Just like you said. Together.”

 

Rick sobbed into his hunter’s shoulder. “I love you” and “I’ll never leave you” whispered back over and over.

 

“Dad!” Came a shout from the yard and they barely had time to brace for impact as Carl came running over, colliding with their waists.

 

Daryl stepped back and gathered Carl into his arms, lifting him up to carry him over to the porch. He sat down on the top step with the boy’s legs wrapped around his hips, and his arms around his neck in a choking hold. Cooing and murmuring calming sounds to the boy, Daryl stroked his hair as Carl sobbed against him.

 

Rick came over and sat against Daryl on the step, tilting his head into a soft kiss that spoke only of love and relief. He lifted a hand to join Daryl in comforting his son. Nothing that happened today could compare to the sense of wholeness he felt at this very moment. Surrounded by family, but more importantly, sitting next to his boy and his love.

 

Eventually, the others came out of the house, loaded for bear with dishes and headed for the picnic table. Rick followed their path with his gaze and noticed the second motorcycle. “That Merle?” He asked.

 

Daryl looked over at him, eyes asking for support. “Yeah. He uh… he remembers too. Said it wasn’t going to be like that this time. Asked me to help him get clean.” He lifted one hand to smooth the hair on the back of his head. “I remember a talk I had with Hershel about him kickin’ a habit, so I looked him up. ‘S damn lucky he remembered everything.”

 

Rick nodded in understanding. He’d been through the same emotions earlier. He was about to ask where the man was, but Daryl beat him to it. “He’s down in the barn, locked up in one of the stalls. Ironic, ya know?”

 

Rick chuckled and stood up so they could join the others at the table. He moved in to take Carl from where he was still wrapped around the hunter, but Daryl waved him off. “Nah, he’s alright. Aren’tcha little man?” He kept his voice soft for Carl as he carried him across the lawn.

 

Rick couldn’t help the grin that stretched over his face as he heard Carl’s muffled retort about not being little. They had plans to make, more supplies to gather, and more family to locate. But here, right now, Rick couldn’t help but feel eternally grateful for the second chance they were getting. He swore to himself, looking out over the familiar faces, that this time he was going to keep them alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I ended up writing a bit more. It's feeling like a multi-chapter fic at this point. Enjoy!

Sitting around the table outdoors, surrounded by happiness was as close to perfection as Rick could dream up at the moment. Granted only four people at the table knew what was in store for them, but Hershel’s family was so welcoming that it almost didn’t matter. Rick knew between him and Hershel, they could steer these people to the right path when the time came.

 

He was so relaxed that he didn’t react as quickly as he might have when a beat up, old Toyota came speeding up the drive. Headlights noticeable in the dusk settling around the farm. Daryl was already out of his seat and headed to the front of the house by the time Rick stood up.

 

But when he did, the first thing to catch his eye was the pizza delivery board on the top of the car. He watched as Glenn, looking younger than he’d seen in a while, opened the driver’s side door just as Daryl reached the hood. Glenn wasted no time grabbing the hunter in a hug. Rick could tell they were exchanging words, voices low and private. And he knew how much Daryl had blamed himself for the way things happened the night they lost Glenn. The teary smiles he could see passing between the two men told him all he needed to let a sigh of relief escape.

 

Maggie had noticed the commotion and dropped the conversation she’d been having with her step-brother when she saw who it was. Standing from the table, she looked as devastated as Rick must have when he saw Daryl for the first time earlier that evening. “Daddy… I thought you said you couldn’t find him.” Her voice strong and brave even though Rick knew she must be hurting.

 

Hershel had risen with them as well, now standing off to Rick’s side. “Honey, you know I couldn’t,” he assured her. “But it looks like he made his way back to us despite that.”

 

Maggie was across the yard, held tight in Glenn’s arms within moments. Rick smiled at the reunion, grateful the two had each other again. As he watched Daryl, his sense of thankfulness for this second chance grew. The hunter would no longer be forced to carry the weight of Glenn’s death on his shoulders. The rest of the group hadn’t blamed him. But Rick knew Daryl’s mind, and he knew it had weighed heavily.

 

Movement from the car caught his eye though, and Rick strained to see who was in the passenger seat. He didn’t have to wait long though before a young girl, no older than ten climbed out, clutching a small pillow to her chest. He watched as Glenn brought the girl to meet Maggie and Daryl, then lead the group of them over to the table.

 

Rick immediately pulled Glenn into a hug with Carl in the mix, patting his back in greeting before the young man moved to engulf his father-in-law. Hershel was a calming influence for everyone it seemed, the rest of the table nodding or smiling at the new additions. He could hear Maggie explaining Glenn was her boyfriend from Atlanta, and the murmurs of easy acceptance.

 

“Everyone, this is Lily.” Glenn announced as he held the young girl in front of him, hands resting on her shoulders from behind. “My sister.”

 

The little girl looked apprehensive, but not fearful. Annette quickly grabbed a plate and walked towards Glenn. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she smiled down at Lily. “Are you hungry, sweetheart? You’re so skinny, you must be starving.” Taking hold of the girl’s hand, she started to point out the different dishes, adding food to the plate when Lily nodded or shook her head at each one.

 

Hershel sent a warm smile across at the sight, then turned back to Glenn. “It’s good you’re here, Son. We’ve got a lot to talk about.” He excused Daryl, Rick, Maggie and himself from the table, but not before grabbing another two plates, filling them with food. He handed one to Glenn and one to Daryl, gesturing them to follow him away from the group. Rick quietly asked Carl to make Lily feel welcome, promising to fill him in on whatever discussion was going to happen next, then moved to Daryl’s side as the five made their way across the lawn.

 

Rick realized they were headed to the barn once they passed the crop of trees that had served as their camp the first time around. It felt like a lifetime ago, but Rick could remember where each car and tent had stood.

 

Merle was a sight, not for sore eyes. Just a sight. He looked tired, sweaty, and uncomfortable. But he didn’t have any hostility on his face when he looked up at the group of them. Hershel had told him earlier that Merle and Daryl had helped set up the stall in the barn for a place where the older Dixon could detox in private. A cot with bedding, a small table, and some storage trunks. Nothing fancy, but more than what they’d grown used to. Before everything, Hershel had already started on converting the barn into something more habitable, the idea being that Maggie could use it for space when she started college closer to home. But he hadn’t gotten too far yet. The animals hadn’t been housed in this barn for a while though, and they picked the stall closest to the small toilet/shower room at the far back.

 

The doors were secure, and Daryl had set up the stall across from Merle’s with his own things. Electricity still ran to the barn, so there was lighting overhead. Rick noticed an additional electric lantern in both Merle and Daryl’s rooms.

 

Detoxing was an ugly business, and while he admired Merle’s fortitude he still fully expected the man’s distasteful attitude to remain. So to say he was shocked would be an understatement when the man breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing him. “Rick, thank god man.” Merle uttered on an exhale. “The old man told me you remembered an’ everything. But I didn’t think you’d be here so soon. Daryl here’s been freaking out about you getting shot or some shit.”

 

The hunter in question huffed out a breath and rolled his eyes as he brought the plate of food to his brother and sat down on the truck across from him to hold it steady. Merle’s hands were already shaking as he reached for it.

 

Hershel turned to Maggie after he noticed the shaking, and sent her back up to the house for the beer he’d had Daryl pick up earlier. As she took off, Rick looked over at the farmer. “I thought he was detoxing?”

 

“He is.” Hershel nodded back. “But it’s more the drugs than the booze. Alcohol is the one thing that might kill you if you go cold turkey.” The old man brought a bottle of water out from under the table and passed it over. Rick was once again floored by the thanks Merle sent his way. This was not the same man from before. That guy’d been an asshole with no consideration for anyone except himself. Not even his own brother. This man was damn near 180 so far.

 

Hershel convinced him to get down as much of the water and food as he could, knowing Merle’s stomach would be revolting eventually. “When this young man here recovers some we’re going to be fixing the structure to be more secure. Fortify the walls on the ground level and outfit some of these stalls into rooms.”

 

Merle looked up from his plate, nodding in agreement with Hershel, “I used to lay concrete back in the day,” he said between bites. “Get some o’ that around the place, keep the moisture out. Be safe enough for us.”

 

Daryl surprised Rick in the midst of the conversation by reaching out for his hand. It wasn’t that they’d never shown affection in front of the others, but it was a very rare thing regardless. And this was in front of Daryl’s brother, a man who Rick knew from Daryl’s stories had been nothing short of homophobic in the past.

 

Merle snorted at Rick’s hesitation. “Don’ getchur panties in a twist, Rick. I ain’t gonna have ‘ny kind of pro’lem witchu and m’brother.” The words were relaxing despite coming from the man with his mouth full of food. Merle swallowed and continued, “Daryl here already explained things to me. Way I figure, I’m an uncle now. Gotta get better for the lil’ ones, ya know? I’m gonna be the cool uncle in this here situation. Make myself a little army o’ rug rats. Give ‘em candy when you ain’t lookin’.”

 

Rick shook his head, smiling as he reached back for Daryl. True to his word, Merle didn’t bat an eye as he raised Daryl’s hand to graze a quick kiss across his knuckles. Maggie returned with a cold beer and Merle nearly had tears in his eyes as he thanked her. From gratitude or shame, Rick couldn’t tell. It looked like both.

 

Maggie joined Glenn on one of the trunks as he tucked into his own meal. Hershel and Merle talked about the improvements they could make to the place. The idea being that if they could get the supplies before everything hit, they’d have a little time to set things up. With Rick and Glenn added to the manual labor, and Merle joining once the worst of the recovery was over, they should have a good amount of people for the work.

 

Then Hershel surprised the group, except for Maggie, when he brought up the additional support they’d be getting from Michonne and her two fellas.

 

The room went silent. “She’s got her baby with her.” Hershel added. “The four of them are headed down tomorrow. Rick, we’re going to need to start getting things for the boy as he grows.”

 

Rick nodded his understanding, adding it to his mental list, when Maggie brought up the elephant in the room. “What about Judith?”

 

Daryl’s hand tightened on his own, and Rick ran his fingers through his curls with his free one. Letting out a sigh, and lowering himself to sit next to the hunter. “I was talking about that with Carl earlier,” he began, looking at the ground. “Lori an’ Shane are already together. I just didn’t know it last time. I’m gonna talk to her when I head back.”

 

He smiled at the tight grasp Daryl kept on his hand, and continued, “There’s no coming back from this for me an’ her. I know that. Carl knows that. He agrees with me.” Rick slouched to the side a little and was happy to feel Daryl providing a solid support next to him. “Summer starts in three days for Carl anyway, and I was thinking I’d tell Lori he and I were headed out for a camping trip. I guess if she wants to come… that’ll be the question. If she does, I’ll tell her you called to see if Carl an’ me’d be interested in helping you fix this place up. That’ll cover the change in plans for camping, she wouldn’t have to know anything before it happens.”

 

The conversation went back to planning, but the mood in the room was a little more somber than before. Everyone, even Merle, knew what it meant if Lori said no. The man went so far as to pat Rick’s knee in sympathy, “Whatever you need, brother.”

 

Rick couldn’t get over how different this Merle was turning out to be. Merle could be an asset, he knew he could. If the man was for real about this, the group would have another skilled hunter and competent fighter. Rick sent a quick nod of thanks back just as Daryl spoke up.

 

“What about the others?” he asked Hershel, “Carol?”

 

The man shook his head. “I found the number, but no answer when I called. I’m going to try again in the morning.” Daryl accepted it, but lowered his gaze to the floor in resigned silence.

 

They resumed the planning as Glenn pulled out his phone and started typing lists for everyone to take care of the following day. Maggie had started texting Michonne, who told them not to worry about the supplies for a small child. She and her group were going to be loading up a truck with everything they could get their hands on for a child birth to toddler.

 

Merle took it upon himself to call the “meeting of the minds” to a close by announcing he wanted to try and get some rest. Daryl went to fetch a bucket to leave next to the cot in case his brother got sick in the night, and the five of them made their way back to the house.

 

Annette had ordered clean up of dinner, and they walked in to her putting food in the fridge, and Carl and Lily playing a board game with Beth in the sitting room. Annette explained how her son and his friends had unloaded Rick’s truck into the shed before they took off, their summer already having started. Rick knew he and Carl would need to head back for the night. No doubt there were going to be some missed calls from Lori when he got back to his phone in the truck.

 

With a heavy heart, he pulled Daryl back out to the porch for a private goodbye. Both men promising to talk in the morning, and that their separation would be very short lived. He walked back in the house to say goodnight to the rest of his family and turned to Carl, “You about ready to head back, kiddo?”

 

Carl wasn’t remotely happy with the idea, but he understood it needed to happen. He gave his goodbye hugs to all, Daryl lifting him off his feet again and holding him tight as he carried the boy to the truck. Rick pressed another goodnight kiss to Daryl’s lips, and another, before he finally got in the truck himself and backed out of the drive.

 

The silence in the cab was over as soon as they hit the highway. Rick spent the next hour going over the plans they’d made in the barn and was happy to see Carl getting excited for the upcoming adventure in construction.

 

After promising Carl could use the nail gun provided Rick or Daryl supervised, they discussed the plan for Lori. Although it went unspoken, it was agreed that Shane wouldn’t be joining the group this time. Rick mentally wished his oldest friend luck for the future, but he’d decided he couldn’t take that kind of risk this time around. Carl said he would be happy if Lori decided to stay with her family, but accepted it could still go the other way. If she ended up leaving, Carl figured the safest place she and Judith could be was with Shane. They could only hope his sanity wouldn’t be threatened this time around since Rick wasn’t going to be there ‘encroaching on his territory’ as Carl put it.

 

Turning on to their street, Rick could see the porch lights were still on, as were all the damn lights in the rest of their house. And there sat Shane’s car in his driveway. Well, this was going to be fun, he thought as he turned off the truck and shook his head. He was over this conversation and it hadn’t even started yet.

 

Carl snorted at his grumpy face as they walked up to the door. He handed over his phone and told Carl to head up to his room and call Maggie for a chat while he dealt with whatever waited behind the front door. His kid was resilient, and in all honesty Carl’s mind was already that of an adult. But there were some things Rick thought it would be best he not have to hear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't decided on Lori yet. Thoughts?
> 
> As always, comments keep the muse alive.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I got this part down and out of the way. It feels right to me, but I always welcome your thoughts. Enjoy!

The front door swung open as Rick and Carl trudged up the porch steps, the light from the foyer streaking out to mingle with the soft glow on the welcome mat. Lori had her hands on her hips and an apoplectic expression on her face.

 

Rick held up a hand to ward off any conversation for a moment. “In a minute,” he muttered. He turned to Carl and nudged his shoulder forward towards the open door, side-stepping Lori until they were inside. Where Share met them at the front of the stairs.

 

“How you been, kid? You and your dad’ve been out for a while,” Shane cheerfully sent the greeting Carl’s way as he reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair. “Where’d you guys go?”

 

Carl knocked his hand to the side as he headed up the stairs, not bothering to answer. Rick knew the attitude he was throwing would set Lori off sooner than not, but he respected Carl not answering a question that clearly should have been directed to the adult in the duo.

 

“Call Maggie,” Rick reminded him, voice calm and level, not rising more than it had to in order to reach his son at the top of the stairs.

 

“Who’s Maggie?” Lori asked from behind him, front door still open. Rick looked down at the stairs at his feet, a smirk on his face. He didn’t think Lori seeing his amusement would go over well.

 

It wasn’t amusement exactly. Seeing Carl and Daryl banter back and forth, or seeing Carl pout good-naturedly when Maggie poked fun at how small he was now… that was amusement. This was different. He wasn’t angry exactly… No, fuck it. He was angry. This whole situation was fucked up. But this kind of anger seemed so small in comparison to how he felt about some of the humans he’d run into in the past.

 

Gareth made him angry. The Governor made him angry. Joe’s men, Grady, hell even the sheep he’d found at Alexandria… Negan. That was anger.

 

This? This just made him tired. Lori and Shane weren’t evil. Not like the evil he’d seen in the years that followed the start of the walkers. They were just selfish. Incredibly selfish. What they were doing was hurtful, and it wasn’t how you were supposed to treat your loved ones. But it’s not like it was the end of the world.

 

The unexpected pun in Rick’s thoughts was not lost on him and he couldn’t hold back the chuckle as he shook his head at the whole thing.

 

“Something funny, brother?” Shane asked from his back. Way too close for comfort. Rick tensed up as he stood straight, and turned around to face the two of them.

 

“I think we’d better have this talk sitting down.” He walked off to the dining room table, confident Lori and Shane would follow. Taking his seat at the head of the table, he was happy to see he wasn’t wrong. They took a seat on either side of him. He was surprised at his own mind for seeing it as a threat, the two of them having access to his person from both sides, and he suddenly realized this felt like stepping into enemy territory.

 

Shane started up first, telling Rick how he was concerned about how his ‘brother’ had been acting. Lori quickly followed with her own laundry list of how Rick wasn’t home anymore, how he wasn’t putting in the time for his family, how Carl was missing out.

 

Rick wasn’t sure which argument was more distasteful. The one from his friend, full of false concern, or the delusions his wife came up with so she could justify her extramarital affair.

 

Regardless, Rick sat there for the next several minutes and listened to the two of them come up with shit in increasingly urgent tones the longer he remained silent.

 

And then Lori spit out, “Who’s Maggie? Is she why you haven’t been home?”

 

The audacity of this woman accusing him of doing the very thing she’d been carrying on with for God knows how long. “She’s the daughter of a friend,” Rick said, breaking his silence. “And you know damn well I don’t go anywhere but work and home. Occasionally I hit a store when you text me five time a shift to stop and grab milk on my way back.”

 

Lori sat there, stunned, like she couldn’t come up with a response for a second. Rick took advantage of that.

 

“You’d know that if you looked at the schedule I put on the fridge with my shifts for the week. And you know they’re not fake because they come directly from the station’s computer.” He was happy his voice never got louder. The more he talked, the more the anger rose in his chest. But he reminded himself that this situation didn’t require that.

 

Rick knew he’d had to change from the man he’d been before all of this. He’d had to do things he wasn’t proud of. But they were necessary things. Actions that meant survival for his people, and the alternative to that wasn’t worth considering. What mattered in the old world didn’t come close to watching your family being ripped apart by walkers, or tortured and killed by what was left of humanity.

 

He felt the anger drift out of him again, and sighing, he held Lori’s gaze. “If I stayed later than a shift, it was overtime at the station. You’d know that as easily as asking Shane, so I don’t appreciate what you’re insinuating.”

 

“Overtime?” Lori exclaimed, “You haven’t taken overtime in months! And I did ask Shane.” Lori looked so angry, but she also looked sad. Rick had never really understood her ability to place herself in the role of the victim. But there it was. He knew in her mind that all of this was happening to her, and not something her actions had a part in.

 

Instead of a reply, he swung a hooded gaze back over to his partner. “Is that right?” he mused. Shane wouldn’t meet his eyes, but he remained silent. “Hmm.” Nodding his head as he started to connect the dots. Shane planned this. He worked Lori into a state where she thought Rick had been hiding something, going off for hours at a time.

 

He almost felt bad for Lori for the manipulation. But she’d been stupid enough to believe it, and had never once confronted Rick about her suspicions. Which is what a person does when they want an easy excuse. Nah, he didn’t feel bad for Lori. And he was done with Shane.

 

“Here’s what I know.” Rick started, sitting forward to place his hands on the table. “The two of you’ve got something going on.” He held his hand up as Lori started to sputter out a protest. “Do me a favor and don’t lie to my face.” Shane remained silent. “I don’t want an explanation, and I don’t want details. Carl’s already aware, he came to me about it.”

 

Lori started to protest again, and this time Rick let her speak her mind. The denials and then excuses washing over him as he sat there. She had started to cry, which was when Shane spoke up and accused Rick of upsetting her for no good reason.

 

Good. Rick thought. If Lori went with Shane after all this, he at least wanted to know the man would be protective of her.

 

Ignoring his friend, he turned to face Lori head on, gently taking her hand. “It can’t go on like this. You know it can’t, not after this.” He kept his voice low, soothing. If Lori wanted to play the delicate flower, he’d treat her like one. But reality needed a part in this too. “What you and me had, that’s gone. It just is.”

 

Standing from the table, he released her hand. “Stay here,” he hushed down at her and turned to walk out of the room.

 

Entering the office, he picked up the pen he’d left on the desk earlier that morning, and opened the drawer, shuffling thing aside to pull out the manila envelope. Lori looked up as he returned, carrying his find, then sobbing as she lowered her head to her arms in front of her. Rick ignored Shane.

 

Sitting back down, he pulled the court documents out and started to flip through them, only noticing now that Lori had already signed.

 

“Rick, please…” Lori implored as he held the pen to the first page. Though for what, Rick didn’t know. Putting the pen down, he reached for her hand again. She had tears flowing down her face, more on their way.

 

“Lori, this the right thing to do,” he assured her as he gave a gentle squeeze. “A lot of this may not have happened in the right way, but this part can.” She didn’t respond, just stared at him with a shell-shocked expression. He turned back to the papers before him and jotted his initials in the first box.

 

It took some time, Rick read over each page before he initialed. But eventually he came to the end. “This part needs a notary.” He looked back at the woman he now considered his ex-wife. She hadn’t said another word as he went through the papers. He’d agreed to everything she was asking for, she wanted the house, the car, and alimony. All old world worries.

 

She’d asked for shared custody, but child support during the months Carl would stay with her. Again, old world shit that Rick knew wouldn’t matter a few weeks from now. Lori nodded, so he continued, “We can head down to the court house tomorrow, get these signed and filed. Shane, I think it’s time you were leaving for the night.”

 

Shane looked up at Rick for the first time in a while, but he quickly turned his sights to Lori, eyebrows up in question. Lori didn’t look like she had much more energy left, but she sighed and nodded her head, getting up from the table to see him to the door.

 

Rick stayed where he was, busying himself with putting the document back in the envelope, dropping it back off in the office, and grabbing a blank notepad. When he heard Shane’s car start up outside he met Lori at the front door and ushered her back into the dining room.

 

“There’s some more we need to talk about tonight,” he told her as they took their seats again. Once again, she was silent so he continued. “Carl’s got a few days left in school, and I’ll stay on the couch for those nights. We can take care of the papers in the morning, but after schools out, I’ll be taking Carl for a camping trip.”

 

Lori looked up at him, but just nodded in agreement. He’d decided to tell her as much as he could for now. “We’ll be staying on a farm that belongs to a friend of mine. He asked for my help with the remodel of one of his barns and I think the timing’s perfect. There’s plenty of woods there for Carl and me to do some hunting and fishing, and he’s excited about the construction side of things.”

 

“You already talked to him about it?” She asked quietly, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

 

“Yeah,” Rick whispered back. “We talked about you coming with us, too.” And that had Lori looking up. “As a family. Even though you and me are separating, we can still be a family Lori.”

 

She looked over at the chair where Shane had sat all evening, her gaze sliding off to take in the rest of the room. “Rick, I don’t know…”

 

“No pressure, but we’re leaving in three days. Carl wants you there, I want you there. Just a few weeks to start the summer before everything gets a little crazy.”

 

“I just don’t think…” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

 

He nodded, like he thought she might come to that decision, and pulled the notepad and pen closer to him. As he started to write, Lori focused back on him, asking what he was doing. “These are directions to the farm from the highway,” he told her. “I want you to keep this on you at all times. If you change your mind after we’re gone, if anything happens, you find your way there.”

 

He looked up at her, trying to convey the seriousness of this without her knowing why. “This is where Carl will be. This is where I will be. Lori, if something happens, you find your way to this farm. They’re good people, and we’ll be happy to have you. I promise, it’s safe there.”

 

Rick knew she didn’t understand, and she wasn’t going to just yet. But he had to hope that when the time came, she would have those directions on her, and she would meet them at Hershel’s. He wasn’t going to drag her along, she had to make her own choice. He just prayed she would choose family.

 

Leaving her at the table, Rick headed up the stairs to say goodnight to Carl, only to find him on the phone with Daryl. Apparently Maggie had handed off the phone as the evening had progressed. Putting the phone on speaker, Rick quickly filled his son and hunter in on what happened with Lori, fully aware that the hour had grown late. He laid out the plans for the next few days and promised to call Daryl in the morning before saying goodnight.

 

Headed to his bedroom, he grabbed a pillow and blanket to set up on the couch. He passed Lori as he was leaving the room, patting her shoulder on his way by. It felt strange bedding down without someone on watch. He knew Carl would be having the same apprehensions and wasn’t surprised to hear his son dragging something heavy across his floor upstairs, likely barricading his bedroom door.

 

Laying down himself, Rick couldn’t help how he relaxed into the soft cushions. It’d been while that they had found a place this comfortable to sleep and he was exhausted. He focused on drawing deep breaths and relaxing one muscle group at a time starting with his feet. He was out before he made it to his arms.


	4. Chapter 4

Three days really isn’t that long, considering everything Rick wanted to accomplish before he headed to the farm. After waking up on the couch early the next morning, Rick had headed upstairs to wake Carl up for school. It was earlier than Lori was probably used to back then, and Rick was happy the light under her door didn’t come on as he passed it.

 

He was a little shocked to see Carl was already awake. He was trying to quietly push the dresser back away from his door when Rick reached it. After straining to help his son and maintain near silence, his shock continued when Carl went back to the bed, grabbed Rick’s cell phone, and pushed it into his stomach on his way out.

 

Looking down in confusion at the call that had been live for the last 12 or so minutes, Rick brought it up to his ear. “Hello?” he whispered.

 

“Hey, sheriff,” came the soft greeting. Daryl. Rick felt a smile steal across his face immediately. Daryl wasn’t one for pet names with Rick. Or anyone besides Judith really. But sometimes when things were quiet and comfortable, Daryl would find his way to Rick, settle in next to him and murmur a quiet ‘hey, sheriff.’

 

Rick took it for the expression of affection he’d always considered it to be, and countered with the familiar retort, “I was a deputy sheriff,” in the same gentle tone he always used.

 

As Daryl snorted in amusement, Rick continued, “Did you call to wake us up?”

 

“Nah, little man called me.” He could hear Daryl moving around, but nothing to pinpoint what he was actually doing. “Got a few hours of sleep before taking care of Merle. He had a rough night.”

 

He could tell by the hunter’s voice, gentle but alert, that Daryl hadn’t just woken up, but he also wasn’t dead tired either. “Umph,” Rick grunted. “You know what I just realized?” Not waiting for a reply more than Daryl’s own grunted query, “I’m going to have coffee today.”

 

Daryl chuckled back. “You gonna get some donuts too?”

 

Scratching his head, “You know, I just might.” He heard the shower turn on and was instantly jealous Carl had remembered they could do that again before him. “And a shower. I actually might just move into the shower for the day,” he mused.

 

Daryl was walking around now, Rick could hear the creak of a door on the other end. “Nah, ya ain’t that dirty. This ain’t back then.”

 

“You tellin’ me you didn’t have a shower yet? I seem to recall you smelling like a rose bed last night.” Rick joked back, thoroughly amused to hear Daryl’s muttered cursing about Maggie and Herbal Essence shampoo. “It was nice,” he assured the other man as he headed back out towards the stairs. “Wanted to wrap up in it and sleep next to ya.”

 

Hearing Daryl’s huff on the line, Rick smiled again. They didn’t really voice these kinds of thoughts to each other. Not often at least. But somewhere along the way, Daryl’s embarrassment at hearing them had gone from awkward to accepting. Rick kind of loved he could still make his partner blush though, and felt a pang in his chest that he wasn’t there to see the way Daryl would be ducking his head, letting his hair hide the little smile he’d give.

 

Speaking of hair, “I wanted to tell you but I forgot, I always liked the way you kept your hair at the beginning. Liked seeing your face more.”

 

“We talkin’ about my hair now?” Daryl questioned, louder now. He must have left the barn, Rick thought. “First the flower shampoo, now we’re gonna braid each other’s hair?”

 

The words were light, teasing, and Rick laughed quietly as he walked in the kitchen, trying to remember where they kept the coffee. “Nah, you don’t have enough to braid yet,” he teased back. Setting the coffee maker up, Rick dropped down into one of the kitchen chairs with a sigh. “Want you here with me.” He was suddenly tired again.

 

Rick knew there was a little separation anxiety going on inside his head. But really, could anyone blame him? Yeah, they were all alive and had some serious shit to get done in the next month, but yesterday… Yesterday they had died. They hadn’t made it.

 

“Hey,” came Daryl’s soothing voice over the line. “Hey, where’d you go?” listening as Daryl followed up his question with gentle assurances, Rick knew he must have picked up on the tightness in Rick’s breathing, because he was doing a great job of bringing him back to the present.

 

“I’m here, I’m here.” Rick replied. “You at the house yet?” Daryl didn’t question how Rick knew he’d been walking across the field to the farm house, just breathed out an amused affirmative.

 

“Looks like Hershel’s up already,” he told Rick as the sound of a door opening came out of the speakers. “I guess I get coffee too.” He could hear more voices, Hershel’s warm greeting and a woman’s kind but stern voice telling Daryl to sit down. “And eggs. S’better for you than donuts….yes, ma’am......yes, ma’am.” Rick listened as Daryl addressed whoever else was in the room with him. “Hey Rick, I get bacon too.”

 

He laughed again at the smug tone from the hunter. Hearing the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, Rick noticed he didn’t hear the shower running anymore. Except it wasn’t Carl who came into the kitchen. It was Lori. She didn’t say anything as she pulled a mug from the cabinet and made herself a coffee. But He noticed she only made one cup.

 

“Hey,” he called to Daryl. “Look’s like the house is up over here. Glenn sent me a list of things to get through today, but I’m headed to the court house for a couple hours this morning.” Daryl was silent on his end, but Rick knew he was listening. “Tell Hershel I’ll give him a call when I’m done and we can get started on everything.”

 

He ended the call, seeing Lori leaning back on the counter as he stood up to check the fridge for Carl’s breakfast. She watched him as he pulled out eggs and a pan, some bread for toast, and made his own cup of coffee. If Daryl was having eggs, he decided they would too.

 

Rick figured she didn’t have any plans to help, so he got started on fixing a quick meal. “Since when do you cook breakfast?”

 

Apparently she’d woken up on the angry side of the bed. Funny thing was, Rick could remember the mornings going exactly like this back before everything. So he went with the default response he’d adopted back then. Silence. He didn’t like starting his mornings with an argument, and Lori was always at her worst in the early hours.

 

Carl came into the kitchen while breakfast was cooking. He grabbed the juice as Rick pulled a glass from the cabinet for him. He’d seen them there when he was looking for the coffee, and it wouldn’t do to raise Lori’s suspicion, or ire, if Carl hadn’t remembered where they were.

 

Making up two plates, Rick brought them to the table, sitting down with his son for their meal. “There’s more than enough if you want some,” he calmly told Lori. She rolled her eyes, setting her coffee down, and left the room.

 

“Guess not,” Carl said through a mouthful. Rick sent him a half-hearted look of rebuff, then nodded his head in a ‘what can ya do?’ fashion.

 

Getting his own shower after they were done eating was everything he’d hoped for. He went through his cleaning routine twice before he called it quits. They’d woken up early and Carl didn’t need to be at the school for another hour. He wasn’t at all remorseful about spending nearly 15 straight minutes standing under the scalding spray. Probably wouldn’t help Lori’s mood though when she found out the hot water was nearly gone.

 

Rick found Carl on the couch texting when he made his way back down. “Daryl?” he asked.

 

“Glenn.” Carl corrected. “Said he wants me to check out the school for locks on the cafeteria. Generators. Defensibility.”

 

“He planning something I don’t know?” Rick sent back over, sitting down next to his son to read through the text conversation. They both looked up to the stairs when the sound of doors slamming floated down. “Come on, you got your things?” he asked as he ushered Carl up from the couch. At the nod, they made their way to out to the truck. Rick figured he could take the long way into the school, drive around some if they needed to kill time.

 

The morning didn’t go any smoother after Carl was dropped off. Lori stuck to her silence as they filed the papers, but her discontent was broadcasted just fine.

 

“I don’t think you should stay at the house,” she finally said as they were driving back. Not turning her stare from its fixed position out the passenger window.

 

Rick sighed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Lori, we talked about this last night. I said I’d be on the couch for the next couple nights before we head to the farm. And it’s my house.”

 

“Not anymore.” Rick cut his eyes over to her, but she had her head tilted up in firm resolve. “The papers we just signed say it’s my house. And I don’t want you there.”

 

He wasn’t going to change her mind. He knew that. He could keep arguing about this, but as he pulled into the driveway, he realized he just didn’t want to. He stayed in the truck as she got out and headed inside, throwing it in reverse and headed back to town. He’d pick up some duffels at the sporting goods store and clear out his things.

 

By the time he made it back, Lori’s car was gone. Her room had drawers open and clothes on the bed when he walked in to collect his things. A sick feeling twisted in his stomach as he realized he didn’t have his phone on him. He’d left it with Carl.

 

Rushing back to the truck, he sped for the school. He could hear his son’s raised voice as he barreled into the front office. Carl’s face was red, but his gaze was stone cold as he tried to rip his arm out of Lori’s hand. “I said I’m not going with you. Dad’s picking me up today, not you.” Carl looked over as Rick called his name.

 

Lori’s shock at seeing him standing there was all the distraction Carl needed to get free and run to his dad. Sweeping Carl up in his arms, Rick carried him over to the receptionist. “Hey, Cindy. I’m going to be taking Carl out for the rest of the year. What do you need me to sign?” He smiled warmly at the girl as she stuttered and collected herself after the scene moments ago.

 

“Uh… Here. These uh, these papers right here will be fine.” She gave him a pen to sign the documents, already having them ready since Lori had apparently been about to do the exact same thing.

 

“Rick,” Lori called from a few feet over. “I’m taking him to my mothers in Atlanta.”

 

Rick glanced at her briefly, taking in her slightly shaking form. Whether she was trembling in fear or anger, Rick really didn’t care. Carl’s arms and legs wrapped around him like a spider monkey tightened at her words.

 

Turning back to the papers, he couldn’t keep the ice out of his voice. “No. We agreed Carl would spend the first couple weeks of the summer on the farm.”

 

This was the person he’d had to become after the world went to shit. Uncompromising. Deadly. Something in his stance that threatened a horrible, and swift punishment for anyone who tried to take his family from him.

 

Handing the papers back to Cindy with his free hand, Rick noticed the girl had started to twitch with nervousness. He tried to send her a kind smile when he caught her eye, but she still looked uneasy.

 

Stooping down to grab Carl’s backpack from the floor, Rick wasted no time in carrying his son to the truck, taking off before Lori could reach them. Knowing she’d be headed back to the house, Rick took the road that would lead out of town in the opposite direction.

 

It would take longer having to circle around for the highway, but there was no way they weren’t headed to the farm as soon as possible after this. Knowing Lori, she’d have Shane waiting at the house if they went back there. Rick wasn’t about to deal with that shit right now.

 

“Dad,” Carl spoke up from his seat, voice so young, but with the strength of an adult. “She has the directions to Hershel’s.”

 

Rick thought about it for a minute before responding. “I’ll call into the station to let them know what’s going on. The papers say joint custody, and we’ll be two counties over.” He shook his head, disappointed it was turning out this way. “The directions are good, means she can find us later, after everything starts. If she comes to us before then, that’s not bad either.”

 

Carl nodded back. “What about Shane though?” he asked.

 

“With Michonne and Merle there?” Rick sent back an exasperated laugh, “Daryl? Nah, he won’t stay for long if he does show up. Not to mention its Hershel’s property. I think well be fine.” He reached over to run a hand down his son’s hair. “You upset about not being able to get your things?”

 

“No. It’s just stuff, Dad.” There was that adult again, coming out of the mouth of a child. “I didn’t have it before, don’t need it now.”

 

Rick sent him a proud smile. “Call the farm, let them know we’re on our way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I officially changed this to be an unfinished work. I like where it's going and plan on sticking with it for a while. 
> 
> The reception from you guys has been awesome, and I'm so grateful for your support. I hope to live up to that in the coming chapters!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this whole thing just came to me, and I had to get it down before I lost it.... Hope you enjoy the early update!

Rick hadn’t expected the laughing. When he told Carl to call the farm to let the others know what was going on, it was Hershel who picked up. He had laughed at Rick and told him they should have expected their careful planning would hit some obstacles.

 

It was nice to have the man around to remind Rick of the important things. He’d missed that guiding hand after the prison fell. Of course, at the time, his world was focusing on survival and moving forward. But he knew he could take a step back now that they were all together again. At least for a little while.

 

Hershel had continued talking during Rick’s reflection, and he tuned back in to catch the old man talking about how they better hurry their pace to get there before the storm hit. Looking up at the sky, Rick was surprised he hadn’t noticed the clouds darkening.

 

A familiar grumbling came on the phone as Hershel handed it off to Daryl. “Rick, you might want to think about getting’ your ass down here to help with this shit.”

 

Carl snickered over at Rick, who looked back in confusion. “Help with what? I’m not even supposed to be there yet.”

 

“Yeah? Well your delivery came, and all these damn boxes weigh a ton.” Daryl shot back. Rick knew he wasn’t mad, just expressing frustration the way he always did with a clipped tone. He smiled at the difference between his interaction with Lori earlier in the kitchen, and this one now with Daryl. A world of difference.

 

Not trying to compare the two relationships, but Rick couldn’t help but feel happiness at the security and trust he felt between him and Daryl. They could get their anger out, let the other know when they were pissed, and it never made him feel like quitting. Instead, he welcomed the intimacy that came with that level of togetherness.

 

“Are you saying ya’ need help lifting a couple of boxes?” He joked back, knowing it would set the man off. He was proven correct as another grumble could be heard on the line, though no clear words, and Glenn came on asking why Daryl had just shoved a phone in his face.

 

Rick full out laughed at that. “Sorry Glenn, what’s going on over there?”

 

“Hey, man. So we just had a delivery and they left everything in the drive.” Glenn explained. “Daryl wanted them to bring it to the barn, but they said no. You can imagine how that went. Pretty sure they blacklisted the address after they left.” Rick could tell the young man was grimacing on his end. “He hasn’t calmed down much. Don’t worry about rushing though, we have enough hands here to move it all.”

 

Rick told him to tell Hershel he was about an hour out and to call or text if they wanted him to stop and pick anything up. He honestly hadn’t expected the delivery so soon. Carl filled him in on the school incident with Lori, and told Glenn to warn the others in case Shane showed up.

 

They did end up getting a text from Maggie asking them to stop by a sandwich shop for some food, followed by another text with everyone’s orders. Rick was happy he and Lori had kept separate checking accounts, not wanting to think what she’d have done otherwise.

 

He didn’t have a crazy amount of savings, but it was coming in handy. The supplies so far had all been on credit cards, but Rick wanted to get as much out of his funds as possible. A steady $200 lunch bill wasn’t going to be sustainable with everything else he wanted to buy. He wondered if Hershel knew how to make bread, and made a mental note to add flour and grains to the list of items to buy.

 

When he pulled up to the farm house, any of the boxes that had been there were already gone. Maggie and Daryl were on their way down from the porch to meet them and help with the food. Daryl sent Maggie a gruff order to take Carl inside as he rounded the truck to meet Rick on the other side.

 

Grabbing Rick’s shirt as the others made their way up the porch, Daryl shoved Rick’s back against the door of the truck and dove in for a demanding kiss. Rick’s hands came up immediately to pull Daryl in tighter against him, even though the hunter didn’t seem inclined to leave a hairsbreadth of space anyway.

 

Rick took control of the kiss with a groan, as Daryl slid his hands under the other man’s shirts. He loved when the hunter got like this. Whatever happened in his early years, Rick never asked. But it was painfully obvious to anyone who knew the hunter that he wasn’t all that comfortable with human touch. So the times where he was like this, Rick was grateful that Daryl had chosen to share them with him. And his hunter could be a force of nature.

 

That was how they got together actually. They’d been clearing a building, just the two of them. Their group had already dwindled down to a handful of people, and they’d left Michonne in charge of the group’s safety in one of the ground floor apartments while Rick and Daryl scavenged the rest of the building. If there was trouble, they didn’t want anyone getting caught in the narrow hallways.

 

Rick had taken a moment to talk to Daryl as they went through a tiny one bedroom unit. He couldn’t even say why he had started, but he knew he had gotten emotional about how much the hunter meant to him. At some point, Daryl had enough and had grabbed him by the shirt and thrown him into the wall. Just like right now with the truck.

 

And just like then, Daryl had plastered himself to Rick’s front, slamming their mouths together in a kiss. Rick knew then that there was never going to be a better match for him than Daryl. Not in personality, and not in passion.

 

The time in the apartment led to more than what they had time for now though, and Rick knew Daryl was aware of that too as the he pulled himself back from their embrace and adjusted his jeans.

 

Rick had to adjust himself as well, throwing his head back in frustration. He heard Daryl chuckle as he stepped back into Rick’s space. “Don’t even think about it sheriff, we ain’t got time for ev’thing just now.”

 

Tilting his head forward towards Daryl’s shoulder, Rick reached to pull him into an easy hold. “Not that I’m complaining, but damn… I needed that.” His words punctuated with a kiss as he brought his head back up and took in his partner’s smug expression. He looked proud of himself.

 

“Then you’re going to love this,” Daryl said around a smile. It felt so good to see the man smile. Sex was nice, hell it was fantastic. Kissing Daryl took his breath away most days. But just seeing him smile… Rick didn’t know if he’d ever loved someone as much as he did this man when just a smile was enough to feel a flutter in his stomach.

 

Daryl continued as though Rick hadn’t been lost in his own head like a thirteen year old with a crush. “Hershel had me set up a mattress in my room in the barn after you called. First the boxes then the bed. All ours tonight. And I went to town to pick some things up for us.”

 

Rick raised his eyebrows at the insinuation. “Things? You gonna elaborate?” Daryl chuckled as Rick’s hands explored what they could reach of his body in a relaxed slide.

 

“S’xactly the kind of things you think they are.” There was that smug tone again. “Com’on, we got food to eat.” He snagged Ricks shirt as he backed away, getting them moving for the porch.

 

Maggie grinned at their flushed appearance when they made it inside. She had no shame, that girl. Daryl told her as much as he darted around her teasing reach for a sandwich.

 

As if on cue, the thunder rolled in and the lights flickered. “Nothing to worry about,” Hershel started as the room got quiet. “It’s a storm, but nothing bad. Near as I remember, this one only lasted about an hour.”

 

Remembering their night in a storm before Alexandria, Rick sent a silent thank you to whoever was listening that they would have the forewarning for a little longer. At least until they had left the farm the first time around.

 

“We’ve got Carl set up on the couch for now. But he’ll be with you once we get the barn fixed up. Michonne’s group’ll take another day. Said she wanted to do some more gathering before she got to us.” Rick shot a quick glance to Daryl at Hershel’s words and saw the man hide a smirk behind another bite. Good, it would be just them and Merle tonight. And Merle would be passed out in his recovery for a while anyway.

 

They hadn’t shared any of the future with the people who hadn’t remembered. But so far, Hershel’s step-son was the only one who’d voiced confusion about all the strange people showing up. Annette had calmed him and said it was a reunion of sorts while they worked on the farm. She hadn’t remembered either, but clearly the woman could roll with the punches. Rick liked her, especially if she commanded respect from Daryl like he’d heard this morning. She’d be a good influence for Carl and Judith.

 

Judith.

 

He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten. With the way things were left with Lori that morning, he was growing less and less sure he’d see his daughter again. It hurt, as in a physical feeling constricting his chest.

 

Daryl noticed his shift in mood and kicked a boot out at his feet. Looking back over, Rick saw a look of support, but also a question in the hunter. He gave a slight shake of his head back, knowing the other man would be likely to bring it up again when they were alone.

 

Finishing the meal, Glenn set out a roll of papers on the table for the remodel planning. He’d already sketched out the dimensions of the barn as well as support beams, and they got to work on the layout of the interior.

 

It was decided that the stalls were going to go, with a wood frame and drywall replacing them. But the idea of the stalls, rows of rooms, that would stay. They’d just be a little bigger this time, coming out into the center of the space more. The loft on either end would also be converted into living space with two more rooms in each.

 

Daryl immediately claimed one of the loft rooms for the two of them, and Rick was thrilled to see the man speak up about something he wanted. Daryl was the furthest thing from selfish a person could get. So to see him stake a claim on something as trivial as which room they got sent a warm burst of happiness through him. The happiness turned into laughter from the whole table as Carl requested a room on the other side of the building, citing there was only so much he wanted to hear regarding his dad’s love life.

 

They’d just gotten around to the planning of materials when Beth came in the room to tell them about the car that’d just pulled up. Looking up, he noticed the storm was dropping off, and couldn’t believe they’d been at this for hours already. The light from the windows showed a greying darkness that had more to do with the time than the weather as he watched Annette get up to put some coffee on. He stayed where he was at the table, but Daryl rose to follow Hershel out to the porch.

 

Carl came to stand beside him as soon as they could hear Shane and Lori’s voices through the door. He wrapped an arm around his son’s waist and pulled out his phone to call into the local Sheriff’s station. He’d called his own station earlier when the sheriff was in, before they’d reached the farm, and explained the situation. Everything. The man had given him his condolences, surprised but not really shocked that Walsh would have been a part of that mess.

 

The Sheriff had told Rick to spend some quality time with his son and wished them luck in the fishing department.

 

See, the thing about being a hometown deputy in a small county is that everybody knows everybody. And chances are a young, ‘native son’ deputy like Rick had those family connections with his daddy being a deputy himself. So when the family fishing trips happened, they probably included some of his daddy’s good buddies. And one of those buddies was likely to be elected Sheriff one day, being a native son himself and all.

 

Which was exactly how this situation had played out. Sheriff Anders had always been family to Deputy Grimes. Both Deputy Grimes’ in fact, well back before Rick had even been born.

 

Shane on the other hand… Well, he’d been around since high-school, he and Rick becoming friends almost as soon as the Walsh’s had moved in down the street. But he’d been a little wild in his youth, something Deputy Grimes senior wouldn’t stand for in his own son. Walsh had gotten himself a reputation. And in a small town, hell, a small county… A reputation like that was hard to wash off.

 

So, no. Sheriff Anders had not been surprised in the least. He’d even gone so far as to throw around words like ‘conduct unbecoming’. He’d also, and this was the part Rick liked best, put in a call to his good buddy Sheriff Crowe from two counties over. Anders and Crowe had a good, long chat about Deputy Walsh, and the recently ‘Ex’ Mrs. Grimes, as well as the innocent young boy, Carl, who wanted nothing more than to accompany his father on a fishing trip after the divorce spurned on by the affair. And since they were talking about the affair, did Sheriff Crowe know that this woman had left her child alone in a car on multiple occasions to carry on with that ugly piece of business?

 

Yeah, Rick would have been just fine in the old world. Shane had bad history he’d never get out from under, and Lori had never endeared herself much to the town. Her being from ‘money’ and all.

 

Sheriff Crowe had decided to park one of his deputies down the road from the farm for the night, and in this moment, Rick couldn’t be happier. Calling it in, Rick stood from his chair and guided Carl towards Annette. Rick loved this woman already as he watched her lead Carl into the kitchen for some cookies. His boy was old enough not to need cookies, but Rick knew Carl would be playing this up to get as many treats as possible. His son was conniving like that.

 

Hearing the argument between his partner and Shane escalate, Rick decided he’d put it off long enough and came out onto the porch. Lori immediately started forward as Daryl moved to block her path. Which had Shane moving until Hershel stepped in front of him.

 

“Where’s my son?” Lori all but screeched at him. She was angry, but hadn’t resorted to tears yet.

 

“He’s inside, exactly where he’s going to stay.” Rick told her. He could already see the squad car turning in from the street, not running code, but loud enough in the gravel it was kicking up to grab Shane’s attention.

 

“You can’t keep him from me, he’s my son!” Lori hadn’t noticed the deputy exiting his vehicle and moved for the door.

 

Daryl blocked her path to that as well. “Are you hard o’ hearin’? I told you before you weren’t go’in in there.” He didn’t raise his voice really, but the words were all but spit in her direction.

 

“Is there a problem here?” came a voice from the drive. Hershel went to introduce himself and explain the situation. Listening, the deputy looked over at the group on the porch. Nodding at the story like he’d been expecting it, he turned to Shane, “Are you Deputy Shane Walsh?”

 

Looking dumbfounded, Shane confirmed his name, and the deputy let him know that Sheriff Anders would be expecting to have a word with him sooner rather than later.

 

“Ma’am,” the deputy addressed Lori. “This here is private property, and I understand this man,” he gestured to Hershel, “has asked you to leave. I suggest you comply with that request.”

 

Lori started to offer her own explanation about how they wouldn’t let her see her son, but the deputy motioned for her to stop. “My shift lieutenant tells me that there is a joint custody agreement, and the boy’s father already confirmed he’d be taking him on a fishing trip out here. Which means you got no business trying to take him away. Now these are good, church-going people out here, with high standin’ in the community. So again, I suggest you reconsider what you’re doing out here tonight.”

 

Rick thanked the man for his assistance as he watched as Shane steered a now quiet Lori back to their car and drive off. He received a smirk and tip of the hat as the man called out a “Deputy Grimes” in farewell.

 

Heading back inside they sat back down for some coffee and planning before retiring early for the night. Daryl left first to settle Merle and see if he could get the man to eat something. Hershel had kept him sedated for most of the day, hoping to get past the worst of the detox while the man was unconscious.

 

About an hour later, Rick saw Carl off to bed and headed down to the barn for the night. He had some earlier business to settle with his hunter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the deal. X-rated scenes are not my favorite thing to write. So you guys are going to get a little bit of that, but I had to do it my way. Hope you like it!

He heard he voices before he felt anything else. They were hushed, but the apocalypse had made light sleepers of them all, and the stall door had wide openings in the slats starting just over halfway up. The tightening of the arm wrapped around his waist was the next sensation he focused on, and the smooth slide of a leg between his own quickly followed.

 

“Shhh.” Came the whisper just behind his ear as Daryl moved higher over Rick’s back, just enough to reach his mouth up and softly bite down on his ear, dragging it towards him and encouraging Rick to slowly shift his body until he was lying flat beneath his hunter, the voices quickly being forgotten.

 

They’d already gone two rounds last night, desperate and clinging to each other at first. Rick had known it was going to be that way before he’d reached the barn. He needed Daryl too much for it to have been anything else. Just like he knew his own mind, he knew Daryl would be needing to reassure himself that Rick was there, that he belonged to this man as surely as Daryl belonged to him.

 

If things in the world had been different, if there were no walkers, the possessiveness Daryl inspired in him would be a frightening thing to have awareness of. But here in reality, Rick wouldn’t change a thing. He’d promised himself after Negan that if he ever got Daryl back, there wasn’t anything that walked the earth that would take him away from Rick again. He intended to keep that promise. He’d burn the world down to keep it. What was left of it anyway.

 

Daryl had told him that it was fucked up when he’d whispered those thoughts one night almost a year ago. Rick had still been inside of him at the time, both coming down from the adrenaline and euphoria of the orgasm. But the way he’d held Rick tighter and bit a bruise into his shoulder in response had assured him that Daryl’d been just fine with the idea. And likely even returned the sentiment.

 

Sometimes when he’d watch Daryl hunting, or moving silently up behind a walker to take it down, Rick was reminded of one of the predators he and Carl used to watch on a nature show. One of the big cats, perfectly suited to their environment to be at the top of the food chain. A natural hunter. Sometimes it was just watching the way he stalked across a room with a wildness about him that could go from relaxed and tame, to a violent and deadly fury as fluidly as any lion he’d ever seen.

 

Whether Daryl was aware of the way Rick admired his wild nature or not, he didn’t know. His reward though was that Daryl had chosen Rick to be his partner. If the hunter hadn’t taken the initiative that first time, he wasn’t sure if it would have ever happened.

 

Noticing his thoughts turning into frightened what-if’s, Rick focused on the body on top of him just as Daryl was sliding up his chest again to run his teeth along the column of his neck. He couldn’t help a soft groan and felt a hand tighten in his hair immediately, another “shhhh,” whispered into his ear.

 

Daryl stilled as they heard the voices more clearly from out in the barn. First Carl’s quiet, questioning voice, followed by a slightly louder “Nah, it’ll be fine kid. Let them sleep, jus’ you com’on over here n’ help ol’ uncle Merle to the head.” The sound of shuffling let Rick know that they were headed to the washroom about fifteen feet from Merle’s room.

 

He was grateful that the man had stopped his son from opening the door, considering neither he nor Daryl were dressed. They had a couple blankets on the bed, but given their positioning, there wasn’t much that could be left to the imagination.

 

Hearing the footsteps fade, he sighed and pushed his head back into the pillow, giving Daryl easy access to his neck again as his partner slowly began to rock his body down into Rick’s. Bringing his knees up to grasp at the rolling hips above him, Rick pulled his lover’s body in as tight as he could. This was going to be fast. Much faster than the slow, careful preparation they’d given each other the night before.

 

Last night had started off frenzied, but Daryl had surprised him by backing off and pulling out the lube and condoms he’d purchased earlier, then stored away in his bag to hide from any prying eyes. After that, they’d taken their time. Exploring each other like it was their first time. Hell, their first time had been a frantic mess of rough grabs and biting kisses.

 

But last night… Last night was what Rick would have wanted if he could do it all over again. He wasn’t complaining, anything Daryl was willing to give him was a gift. Whether it was quick and hard, or soft and careful.

 

A particularly hard grinding of their bodies brought Rick back to the present as Daryl pulled his head up into a kiss that was more sharing breath than anything else. He whimpered as Daryl sped up his movements, knowing it would be over way too soon. He wasn’t disappointed as he found himself unable to stop his body from reaching its climax moments later. His hunter followed quickly after him with his own quiet whimper, ducking his head into Rick’s shoulder as he trembled through his own release and collapsed on top of him in a boneless sprawl.

 

They both knew they would need to get up and get started on their plans, but Daryl seemed content to rest for a few minutes against his chest, letting Rick run fingertips across his back.

 

Pulling themselves together, they did a quick wipe down in the small bathroom. The barn was empty as they dressed and made their way outside. Only to see Merle sitting at a small picnic table one of the others must have planted right outside the main doors. Rick could’ve sworn that table wasn’t there the night before, and did a quick scan of the sky to get a feel for the time. It was morning, but the sun was high enough to be at least 8 am. Still, the table could’ve been there last night and Rick just hadn’t noticed, too focused on getting to Daryl.

 

“Well lookie, lookie here,” Merle drawled out as he grinned up at them. “Havin’ a little honeymoon to yer’selves were ya?” Rick thought the words could’ve been a taunt, but the relaxed posture and easy feeling had him joining Merle at the table as he watched the man across from him shovel food into his mouth. The portions on the fork were small for each bite, but he seemed determined to finish the plate.

 

Daryl huffed and dropped down next to Rick. “Shut up, Merle,” he grumbled back. No real heat, just a response that seemed second-nature.

 

“Now brother, don’t get’chur panties in a twist. I ain’t meanin’ nothing by it. Just sayin’ good mornin’ to the in-laws s’all.” Merle held up a piece of bacon as some sort of peace offering, smiling wide when Daryl snatched it out of his hand and ate the meat in one bite. Rick chuckled as Daryl coughed a little and asked where the food came from.

 

“Yer boy brought it down for me. Says the old man told him to make sure I had the whole thing.” Rick couldn’t tell if he was referring to Carl being Rick or Daryl’s son, but he stayed quiet as the two brothers shared time together. Daryl had been adamant that they stay quiet last night, incase they disturbed Merle’s sleep. They’d talked a little before drifting off, though they’d been exhausted by their activities. Had this been a few weeks ago, Daryl would have gone straight to sleep. But last night, Daryl seemed to want to share his thoughts. Rick was happy they were getting this time to relax a little. A calm before the storm. He knew they needed it, all of them.

 

But watching these two men, he thought of the night before when Daryl told him he couldn’t remember the last time he talked to Merle sober. He knew they had to have gone through the same hell growing up, and if they could be there for each other, if having a clear-headed brother would help Daryl heal some of the wounds from his past… Rick swore he’d do what he could to help the man stay clean.

 

They helped Merle back into his room after the food was gone. His stomach was still rolling, and said he had a headache the size of Georgia, but his spirits stayed high, if a little subdued. Leaving him to his rest, they grabbed the plate and went up to the house for their own breakfast.

 

Hershel and Glenn had been busy. They had papers strewn across the dining room table when Rick walked in. Upon a closer inspection after he grabbed a coffee and plate from Annette, Rick saw that they were maps of the town. Scratch that, maps of his own town alongside Hershel’s.

 

“Think it’s time to let me in on the plan, Glenn.” Rick said, lifting his head to take in the young man’s nervous twitches. “You had Carl checking out the school yesterday.”

 

“Yeah. Um, yeah.” Rick considered the possibility Glenn might have been a little ADHD before all of this if the tight pacing he was doing was any indication. “So we were thinking the other night. Um, Maggie and me. About something Lily told me about her school keeping extra food for kids that didn’t have any money. Box lunches, and breakfast, ya know.”

 

Glenn didn’t see it, but Rick noticed Daryl lift his head from his own meal to look at the man. Eyes squinting as he stared at Glenn’s face, looking for something Rick didn’t pick up on as Glenn continued, “So I was thinking that if the schools here did the same thing, we might want to check them out early.”

 

Rick nodded back, “That’s good thinking. Show me where the schools are on the maps.”

 

As Glenn bent over to smooth out the first map and point out the circled areas, Daryl interrupted, “Where were your parents?”

 

Rick watched as Glenn shot up straight, throwing a confused look to the hunter. “Uh, they were gone. Um, gone before all this.”

 

Daryl gave a barely perceptible nod back. “S’just you an’ your sister?”

 

As the young man confirmed without words that he’d been taking care of Lily by himself, Rick understood what Daryl had been looking for. He knew Daryl had taken a liking to the younger man early on in everything. But now he was watching it click into place for Daryl as to why that was. Glenn was the type of man who stepped up and took care of a young girl, his family, when he couldn’t have been more than eighteen. With no other family to help, he’d been filling the role of care-giver for his younger sister for at least a couple years. And Lily hadn’t been with them the first time. Which means Glenn must have lost her.

 

Daryl stood up, looking down over the maps he nodded to Glenn, “We can check out those schools today.”

 

“Actually, there’s something else we’d like you and Rick to do today,” Hershel said, grabbing two stacks of computer printouts and handing them to Daryl.

 

Daryl sifted through them as he sat down next to Rick, handing him the second stack. “Shipping containers?” Rick looked over at Daryl’s pile. His pile wasn’t shipping containers. It was a fencing company located at least two hours away.

 

The four men spent the next half hour discussing the trip they wanted Rick and Daryl to make to sign off on the purchase of materials to build a fence around the main farm, interspersed with the shipping containers for additional support and security. The plans cut right across the road though and Rick frowned down at the papers.

 

“Hershel, this looks good and all, but I don’t think they’re going to let us obstruct the roadway.” Rick didn’t want to shoot the idea down, but they couldn’t afford to have the county pissed at them right now. “And do you have the money for all this? We’re talking round the clock work.”

 

Hershel smiled across at Rick and took a sip of his coffee. “Well, you’re right about that. I might have had those same concerns myself, but we’re not paying for it, the county is.”

 

“Come again?” Daryl said as he sat forward in his chair.

 

“Son, I’m something of an elder in the church here. That being said, I get calls from the folks in town when they feel the need for a little spiritual guiding now and then." Hershel's amused voice settling a little bit of the unease on Rick and Daryl's faces. "This morning I got a call from a good friend of mine, Dane Crowe. Seems he had a terrible dream a few nights back and wanted to share his concerns. Said he felt like some things were happening on repeat. Dane told me the call he got from Sheriff Anders yesterday struck him as odd due to it not having happened before. We ended up having a nice long talk about an hour ago.”

 

Rick stared back at Hershel, speechless. How had he not figured other people would remember? Just because Shane and Lori hadn’t, didn’t mean there weren’t others who might be remembering their own trials.

 

Hershel continued before Rick could speak up. “You and Daryl had best get started on your way. The amount of materials we need, and the payment account’s in those papers. Make sure you’re back by seven tonight, we’re hosting the Sheriff for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit where it's due: Thank you for all of the comments! You guys keep me inspired for this story to continue. And thank you to Kathleen for the idea of the shipping containers. It made so much sense, I had to include it here.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a quick change: The timeline I originally had was off. I did some math with Rick having been in a coma for 5 weeks. The human body shuts down without water after 3-4 days. Maybe pushing it to 5 if the person is in a cool environment. 
> 
> Therefore, I'm giving Rick 3 1/2 to 4 weeks of prep time before the walkers hit, the military destroys everything, and Rick was left in the original timeline. 
> 
> Also, the extra two weeks is needed to build things.

Daryl had driven them to what felt like the edge of Georgia while Rick looked over the papers for the fencing. There were notes in the margins on several pages from two different people, some funny comments, and another author with a more serious attitude. He made sure to read each note he found, sharing the comparisons with Daryl as the other man looked at the description in between watching the road.

 

Nearly five hours after they left the farm, the two men were getting in the truck to head back. The shipping container warehouse was the easier visit, although Rick was not impressed with the customer service. Regardless, he was confident as he left that within one week’s time, there would be twenty-two flatbeds showing up with four containers a piece. He’d kept a straight face when signing for the materials and delivery, but noticed Daryl’s calm demeanor stumble a little at the final price.

 

He thought his partner’s reaction to the price of the fence was downright hilarious though as he slapped Daryl on the back when the hunter shocked himself into a coughing fit. If the cost of the containers seemed high, it was nothing compared to the style of fence Rick settled on. That visit took a bit longer. They had seven different styles to choose from, and Rick had ultimately decided to go with the most expensive style that didn’t require electricity. He’d fallen in love with the Armaweave as soon as he saw it. They would be giving up easy access to dispose of walkers if they started to pile up, but the stability and defensibility of the fence gave him comfort when he thought of the governor and the way they’d watched the fence fall so easily during the attack.

 

Rick wanted to make sure Daryl’s input was heard though, and they discussed each fence type as they walked the warehouse. Daryl frowned over at the simple welded weave fencing that looked remarkably similar to the fence from their prison, “Won’t have a little psycho girl feedin’ ‘em this time.”

 

Daryl wandered back over to the fence Rick preferred and pushed a hand against it. He was nodding his head every now and then, and Rick knew the man had some kind of internal dialogue happening. Not wanting to interrupt, Rick silently handed over the papers when Daryl reached out a hand for them. He shuffled through them for a minute, pulling out the fact sheet on the Armaweave and the top sheet that had the amount Hershel wanted them to get. “S’ a lot of fence,” he huffed out as he held up the top sheet for Rick to see.

 

A quick call to Hershel confirmed that the amount of fence they wanted would be more than what they needed for the farm. He told Rick they would discuss it when the men got back that night and hung up. Daryl shrugged at the lack of details and told Rick to go buy his fence, although he did have one request that Rick add the turnstiles option into a few of the sections. “Easy in, easy out,” he’d said, and told him they’d post guards at the openings.

 

The company selling the fencing wasn’t going to be the same company that installed it so Rick placed another call to the farm. Hershel told him to wait a moment before a new voice came on the line. It was the same voice he’d heard the night before, the deputy.

 

His name turned out to be Deputy Hank Morrow, and he was one of Sheriff Crowe’s close friends. Hank had a wife and two sons, twin boys the same age as Carl was now. Hank was also one of three Deputies besides the Sheriff in Greene County who remembered.

 

Sheriff Crowe was an attentive man, and quickly picked up on which of his men were acting shifty after the last week. He’d brought them in one at a time, and asked a few leading questions to see if they might have been sent back as well. Only three had answered the questions right. When they did, the Sheriff confirmed they were all remembering the same thing, and sent them down to talk to Hershel’s family.

 

The Greene family of Greene County, no relation, had survived longer than any of these men. They had made it years after the fall, and the three Deputies had seemingly endless questions. The hard truth was, they weren’t going to save everyone. If the men tried that again this time, they were likely to die just as quickly as the time before. Hank and one of the other Deputies had a young family to protect and they accepted that reality easily enough. The third Deputy, Kyle, was a recent Academy graduate. He took a little more convincing. Hershel had put Glenn and Maggie in charge of talking to him.

 

They’d taken Kyle with them when they brought lunch down to Merle, the four of them sharing a meal at the picnic table. Merle was actually the one to bring Kyle around to reality. The young man had a similar upbringing as the reformed druggie, despite going into law enforcement. Turns out watching his daddy shoot his momma in the head as a teenager had steered Kyle to the right side of the law. Merle had reminded Kyle of a cousin he had stayed with for a while, and Maggie had smiled at the easy acceptance between the two men.

 

Merle hadn’t cared for much before this, hadn’t thought much of people at all. Except his brother. And Kyle behaved so similar to the younger Dixon that Merle found himself being kinder to the kid than he was to most strangers.

 

With the Deputies at the farm already, Hershel had put Morrow on the phone with Rick to make the final selections on the company that would be installing the fencing. The extra charge for an immediate start date didn’t turn his head, and Rick signed the forms with the account numbers he’d been given that morning. Morrow made a separate call to Sheriff Crowe to release the funds, and within ten minutes of signing, Rick and Daryl were headed back.

 

Pulling back up the drive, Rick noticed quite a few more cars in front of the house than when he’d left. There were a handful of unfamiliar men out at the picnic tables, and Rick saw there were more of those as well. Daryl headed for the barn almost immediately, patting Rick’s stomach on the way by. Apparently he didn’t intend to meet the newcomers just yet.

 

Glenn came down from the porch with a basket of rolls and a pitcher of ice water, nodding for Rick to join him at the tables for introductions. The deputies were all decent men as far as he could tell, their demeanor open, while still maintaining a bit of tension that could only be due to the impending nightmare they would have to relive.

 

Rick and Daryl had discussed the ‘time travel’ situation while on the phone with Hershel on the way back. As far as they could see, the people who remembered all woke up on the same morning with their memories despite how long they’d lasted the first time. These deputies didn’t know how inhumane humanity could get because they’d never made it past the first couple weeks.

 

Seeing more people making their way over, Rick turned toward the house to see if he could help bring any of the food outside. He stopped dead in his tracks before he made it two feet, seeing Michonne coming down the stairs holding a toddler on her hip. A giant smile lit up her face, and Rick felt one mirrored on his own. Opening his arms, he met her halfway and held her tight while being careful of the child.

 

“This must be Andre,” he beamed down at the boy, getting a happy squeal in return as Andre caught hold of his hand. “How are you, sweetheart?” Rick knew the boy wasn’t going to answer when he ducked a shy smile into his mother’s neck. They laughed at his antics while Michonne rubbed the boys back.

 

“When did you get here?” he asked the woman, resting a hand on her lower back and leading her over to the tables so she could sit.

 

“Not too long before you, actually,” she said as she moved Andre to sit on her lap. “About an hour and a half probably. We took two cars and a trailer, the trailers pulled down to the barn though.” Rick learned that Hershel had set up one of the stalls with a bed for Michonne and Mike, and another for Terry. But Andre would be staying in the house. The trailer was pack to the top with supplies not just for the four in Michonne’s group, but also supplies for an infant.

 

The only infants their group had with them were Judith and later on, Maggie’s child. Rick breathed out a sigh of relief when Michonne told him that Carl had already filled her in on the situation with Lori. It’s not that he wanted his son to be the one responsible for breaking the news that Judith may never come to be with them, but he was thankful he didn’t have to voice his fears.

 

Michonne had never let him take the easy road before, so he was expecting it when she confronted him now. “You couldn’t have asked Lori to come with you? I know you and Daryl are… But you couldn’t have found a way?”

 

“It’s not like that. I did offer her to come down with us. Be a family, even with the divorce,” he told her, keeping his head down as he took a seat. “She didn’t want it.” He told her about tension from Lori that morning, and about the school. Then about her and Shane showing up at the farm. “She tried to take my son.”

 

And that was the thing. Rick saw Carl as his son, not Lori’s. He knew that wasn’t right, that she was his mother. But the cold detachment he felt towards her when he first woke up had taken root in his mind. Carl was his son. And no one was going to take him from Rick.

 

Having the others milling about, carrying food and drinks outside to settle in for dinner brought an ending to the discussion. Rick knew Michonne would bring it back up, but he was happy to put it off for a while.

 

It wasn’t until everyone was already halfway through eating that Rick noticed Daryl was missing. He’d been caught up in talking to Sheriff Crowe and Hershel that he hadn’t even realized his partner hadn’t returned from the barn. And Carl was missing too. The plans for the next few weeks would only be discussed between the members of the group who remembered, so not at the dinner table. But the Sheriff was no first-timer, and he’d shared some of his and Hershel’s plans by speaking in general terms, and then glossing over any questions as to the reason for the fence going up around the farm.

 

And it wasn’t just the farm. The Sheriff was also having the fencing placed around the Sheriff’s Department building. It was two stories, and included the local fire/EMS station. Rick would have to talk to the man later to get more details, but it sounded like there were going to be two groups of survivors in town: The farm and the Sheriff with his deputies. Having met the men, Rick wasn’t concerned about another maniac situation, but he wanted to talk it over with Daryl.

 

Rick started to make up another couple plates of food before Annette stopped him to let him know Carl had already seen to that before he left. He felt his pride grow more and more each day when he thought about the man Carl had become. Excusing himself with apologies and farewells for the night, Rick made his way down the lawn.

 

Daryl had already eaten when he arrived, but Merle was having another rough night. Hershel had explained there would be a few more evenings like this, and that if he really couldn’t get the food down, they shouldn’t force him. In a stroke of luck, Michonne’s friend Terry was an EMT and had remembered his quick demise the last time. Her boyfriend Mike hadn’t. But Terry had talked to Deputy Morrow before they arrived and had the man bring down a few saline bags and an IV set-up for the older Dixon.

 

Even without the food, Merle would stay hydrated. While they wouldn’t give him any narcotics for the discomfort, they were able to administer a sedative through the IV that would keep him rested. His son was showing Daryl how to measure the right amount and push it through the port when Rick entered the small room.

 

Carl took them outside when Merle settled back into a relaxed looking sleep and went over some of the things they’d missed that day. Another two areas were going to be cleared next to the barn. One that could house people, and one mostly for storage. In the one for storage, they were digging into the ground for subterranean storage of food, medical supplies and anything that needed a cooler temperature.

 

This was day three, and Rick knew that four weeks could go by quickly. When he brought up his thoughts, Carl mentioned Hershel saying something about “If the Amish can do it, so can we,” when he’d asked basically the same thing earlier. They had the fencing coming in two days, the containers coming in another three, and apparently there was concrete and lumber somewhere in there. He decided to let Hershel and Glenn continue running point on the oversight and planning. He was happy to help out wherever they decided he was needed.

 

Carl took the plates from dinner back up to the house after checking on Merle one more time. He warned them he’d be down early to get started on sorting the supplies and collecting anything they had missed.

 

Not wasting any time after Carl left, Rick grinned and snagged Daryl’s shirt on the way past their room. He had a theory that two grown men could fit in the tiny shower in the washroom, and was determined to test that theory before bed tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a terrible person, and I abandoned you all, and I am SO SORRY. You don't even know how sorry. And so, as a peace offering, please accept this new chapter. 
> 
> Again.... I am sincerely sorry for the delay.

The first week closed out with little fanfare, barely noticed by the majority of their group. Sheriff Crowe had reassigned himself and his deputies to an ‘alternate duty location’ otherwise known as the farm for the foreseeable future. On paper, it was only for the next few weeks, but the four men knew they would never work another shift as a member of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

 

The day following the meet-and-greet began with six construction vehicles showing up just after dawn. Sheriff Crowe had contracted a local company to begin immediately on digging out the areas for the additional structures, as well as leveling the perimeter in preparation for the fencing.

 

It had been decided that the work on the existing barn would be last. They all wanted to give Merle as much opportunity as possible for rest and recovery before the noise from the machinery and construction became too overbearing.

 

Although there were a lot of plans that needed to be put into action, Glenn and Maggie were adamant about keeping to a schedule for each day. And they meant _each day._

 

When Rick woke up next to Daryl for the second morning in a row, he felt such a rush of happiness that the idea of leaving the warm bed was the furthest thing from his mind. Maybe it was the hell they’d lived through, maybe it was the fact that they had actually died less than a week ago… but knowing Daryl was lying next to him, holding onto Rick, was a feeling he’d never be over.

 

Maggie and Glenn didn’t care. Bright and early that second morning, they threw open the stall door and announced they were there for the morning wakeup call, breakfast would be in thirty minutes, and both men were expected to be dressed and ready for the day beforehand. The sun wasn’t even up yet.

 

Daryl muttered and rolled over to face the wall, but Rick sat up immediately and pushed the blankets aside to pull on a pair of pants.

 

Really, if Glenn was going to barge in their room uninvited, he shouldn’t be so shocked to be greeted with a fully nude Rick at five in the morning.

 

“Just be happy I left Daryl under the covers,” he told the now red faced man, chuckling when he started sputtering in response to Daryl telling Rick that Glenn had always had a thing for his redneck ass.

 

Maggie rolled her eyes, unflappable as always. She grabbed Glenn with a smirk and led him back up to the main house. After a quick wash up in the bathroom, Rick and Daryl joined the early morning crew in the kitchen, where once again, Annette had cooked up a breakfast for the crew.

 

Maggie handed out the schedules for the day as they ate. Rick would be going with Hershel to sort out the gardening equipment. That Amish comment from the day before hadn’t been an offhand remark. Apparently Hershel had been looking into techniques for sustainable farming without the use of electricity, and had set his sights on the Amish community.

 

Glenn would be meeting Kyle in town so the two of them could head to a company that specialized in solar panel energy. The group wasn’t sold on it yet, there was a need for maintenance and replacement of panels that could create a problem if they became reliant on it. But the idea of running a generator for energy wasn’t something they could plan for long term either, so they were branching out in their knowledge while they could.

 

If it was something they decided on pursuing, they could learn the setup beforehand and head back after things calmed down.

 

Terry was tasked with putting Carl and Beth through a crash EMT course over the next few weeks. Merle was their first patient. Surprisingly, he was very patient as the two learned to give injections. His health was improving much faster than Hershel originally thought. Carl had made a comment to Rick one night that maybe it was because he knew he was surrounded by family. Rick held his son tight for that, constantly overwhelmed with the effortless maturity and kindness his boy had inside him.

 

Michonne, Maggie, and Annette spent the first scheduled day making an inventory of their supplies. Annette had been brought into the inner circle of knowledge and, as predicted, took to the new reality like a duck to water. They started a list of items they still needed and sorted it into what they wanted before the walkers hit, and the things they could gather after. Food was obviously something that went on the ‘before’ list, while extra linens and clothing could wait until later.

 

Maggie also started working on a rotational schedule of tasks once the walkers came, but kept that one for private meetings only when the chance was small that someone who hadn’t remembered might overhear them. Things like guard duty and perimeter patrols were important, but so was farming, cleaning, and laundry. Everyone would do their part, no matter the task. Everyone would learn how to defend against a walker, and everyone would learn how to sort colors from whites in the laundry.

 

There were certain jobs that Maggie recognized some people might be inherently suited for, like Annette with cooking, and Terry with medical, and Beth with children. She kept that in mind when devising a plan of action for life on the farm, but was extremely resistant to the idea that any person be pigeonholed into _one_ specific job _._

 

That being said, Daryl had a love of machinery, and had been given the task of overseeing the mechanics on the farm. He was given the next week to travel with a trailer and collect what he thought he might need.

 

Sheriff Crowe, Hank, and Mike were joined by Tyler, the third deputy in securing the wells, and directing the construction crews to the parts of the farm that were ready to be worked on. The early construction plans grew from their initial ideas. By the end of the first day, the farm was being mapped for the addition of three housing facilities, a building for storage, a small building for medical care, a mechanic station, an armory with two secure holding cells, two silos, and six guard towers.

 

The plan was to have the Sheriff’s station as a satellite location for the group. When the fences went up, the facility would be secure from raiders. Having a support location for medical care and weapons was good, but it wasn’t somewhere they wanted to live.

 

The Sheriff and Kyle had already decided that they would wait out the worst of the crises in the station, saving the ones they could behind the fences. There had been survivors in the first week. Some of the people who had somehow managed to avoid the bite had made their way to the station, banging on the doors to be saved. That was how Kyle had died the first time. He wasn’t going to fail them a second time.

 

Hank and Tyler both had young families they didn’t want to be separated from and were planning to relocate them to the farm at the first sign of walkers in the news. While most of the original group were wary of adding too many strangers to their ranks, they knew the upkeep and security of the farm would go better with more hands.

 

They didn’t expect Daryl to be the one to bring in two more sets of those hands, but it happened anyway.

 

Three days into the second week, Glenn was helping Rick and Daryl unload a flatbed of fruit trees when Daryl’s cellphone pinged with an incoming text. Pulling it out of his pocket, he read the message and grinned up at Rick’s confused face.

 

“You’re gonna want to put that down, I’ve got a surprise for you.” Daryl smiled up at him. Rick joined him on the ground, wiping his face with the rag Daryl handed him.

 

Glenn was still in the middle of lifting a pear tree from the truck, cursing when the loud blaring of a horn distracted him enough to drop it. He shot his head over to the drive where a large U-Haul was making its way towards the house. It was hard to get a detailed look at the occupants, but he knew it was two men.

 

“No way…” Glenn said, a smile stretching across his face as the truck came to a stop nearby. He jumped from the flatbed and ran to the driver’s door, just as a head of brown curls descended. “Aaron, what are you doing here!” the words muffled as he pulled the man into a hug. Something Daryl and Rick mirrored with the passenger.

 

“Daryl called Eric two days ago. We both remembered everything, but we didn’t know how to find you.” Aaron was grinning as he put an arm around Glenn’s shoulder and led them to meet the others in front of the truck. “We tried the number you have listed, but you weren’t there, and Eric found Rick but the woman on the phone just went off on him so he hung up.”

 

Eric laughed at the grimace on Rick’s face, “Yeah, she didn’t sound like she was too happy with you.” He laughed harder when Daryl muttered about that being an understatement. “But then I got a call from this handsome guy,” he nudged Daryl in the ribs and smiling when the hunter rolled his eyes.

 

Aaron reached out for Eric’s hand and smiled at the group. “We packed up everything we wanted to keep that night and started driving.”

 

Rick laughed and pulled Aaron into a hug, “Come on, drive the truck down to the barn. We’ll get you guys set up in a room.”

 

Glenn took off to the house to tell the others and grab some food for the two Virginia transplants as Rick and Daryl smushed into the cab for the short ride down the lawn. By the time they were done showing the inside of the barn to the men, and picking out a sleeping area, reinforcemets had gathered around the truck with two plates of food and plenty of help moving their things.

 

They had gathered supplies on their way down, just like Michonne and her group. Aaron and Eric had learned well enough that there were things they needed after the walkers hit, and then there were things they _needed._

 

There were three full Rubbermaid bins that Aaron steered Carl away from when he tried to open one. “Actually,” Aaron said to Rick with a smirk, “Why don’t you move one of those into yours and Daryl’s room. “I have a feeling you’ll be wanting to use what’s in there yourself.”

 

Carl snorted at the bright streak of red blush on the back of Daryl’s neck as he picked the bin up and immediately carted it off to their room. “Don’t worry,” he told Aaron, “He already cleaned out the local CVS. Between the four of you, this farm is bound to have the safest sex in the apocalypse.”

 

Instead of a snort, the boy outright cackled as Rick cuffed the side of his head on his way by.

 

The addition of the two men was happily accepted by their group. Aaron was glad to be put to use in the construction side of things, and while Eric was not averse to getting dirty, he immediately latched on to the absence of an educational structure for the children they were expecting. Daryl’s trips away from the farm morphed into collecting both mechanics and classroom supplies.

 

Eric took the job pretty seriously, often staying up late into the night devouring books on homeschool planning and child development. The downstairs of the main house was being converted from living space to a school setup with Annette and Eric running the show. Lily was their official helper and made the ‘executive decisions’ on the right decorations for the rooms.

 

* * *

 

 

With two weeks in and two more to go, the construction was in full swing. Merle’s recovery had gone wonderfully. He constantly praised his two nurses, Carl and Beth, for taking such good care of his health. While his strength returned, he had started to help out with the barn’s renovations. By the third day, no one could tell that he’d been bed ridden the week prior. A clear head, support from the group, and a general air of acceptance seemed to be the best thing that could have happened to him.

 

The fence was up on the farm, the crews working around the clock and being paid well to do so. They had been lucky that none of the workers had started asking questions about _why_ they were putting up a prison fence on a farm. But, ever watchful, Aaron had noticed one of the young workers glancing around the farm with a skittish look a few times as well as a wistful look towards the safety of the perimeter once the fences were all upright.

 

Approaching the young man with an iced tea at the end of his shift, Aaron looked at him for a few minutes and then sighed. “It wasn’t a dream, you know.”

 

The man turned a terrified gaze toward him and started to shake a little. Aaron took the glass away before the man could drop it. “What’s your name?”

 

“Seth, I’m Seth.” The man whispered. He had started trembling, and Aaron led him to a nearby crate to sit on. Looking at the man closer, he couldn’t have been older than early twenties.

 

“I’m Aaron,” he smiled at the boy. “Do you have any family Seth?” Handing the boy back his tea, Aaron waited until he finished swallowing to answer.

 

“No… uh. No, it’s just me.” Seth was soft spoken, but Aaron had watched him for the last few days. The man was a hard worker, never slacked off. He kept to himself mostly and took his lunch on his own. He’d talked to Rick about him when he first suspected the man of remembering. Rick told him to use his judgment, he trusted Aaron to do the right thing.

 

Aaron looked out across the farm from where they were in the far field. He noticed Seth was watching the farm and traced his gaze as he took in the main house, the new buildings going up, the two guard towers that were finished with a third in the middle of going up, and the plots being dug for the silos.

 

Looking back down at Seth, he asked again, “No family at all?”

 

Seth continued to watch the farm, eyes tracking the fences over and over. “No,” he replied. “Ward of the State. I haven’t had a family since I was little.”

 

Aaron nodded at his answer. “Do you want one?” 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I felt the need to offer a sacrifice to the writing gods, I present to you this humble update.
> 
> Thank you all again for the support!

“Eric, man no. That’s not even on our list for today.” Daryl grumbled to his passenger as they drove along I-20. Eric had been paired with Daryl most days, Maggie had modified the schedule when they proved to work well together gathering supplies. They had spent the last week driving the U-Haul around Georgia picking up things they would need for the auto-repair station and the school.

 

That’s not to say other items didn’t make it onto their list from the rest of the group, but Daryl preferred to focus their destination on the location of the machinery and tools he’d tracked down first. Once they had what they came for, they hit up the nearby towns or cities for Eric and whoever else added something to their list.

 

At the moment, they were headed to Augusta to look at a garage that was going out of business. Daryl had been given a Greene County Sheriff’s Office credit card by Sheriff Crowe and told he didn’t have a limit, just get what they needed. As the days went by, Daryl was losing any appreciation of the cost of things that he still had from before. It was almost unreal. The first couple of times he made a big purchase, he was nervous it wouldn’t go through. But it did, and it kept happening so much that after a couple days, he didn’t even question it.

 

A lot of what they needed could be loaded into the U-Haul, but Daryl was hoping this garage would have the larger pieces he was looking for. He already had a commercial moving company from Augusta on standby if it worked out.

 

Eric was after desks for a classroom setting this trip, and what Daryl assumed was a never ending supply of chalk. They had already painted the walls of the main living room with black chalkboard paint two nights ago, with Annette insisting on bright colors for the borders and decorations in the room to ‘liven it back up’. But Eric had found an independent school outfitter that sold individual wooden desks and chairs stained a deep mahogany. He’d deal with Annette and her love of neon-colored atrocities when they got home, but he couldn’t pass up the desks that looked so fitting in the old farm house.

 

The plan was to get fifteen desk sets today, which would take up some space in the truck, as well as several brightly colored (you’re welcome Annette) beanbag chairs, area rugs, cubby shelves, and interactive toys for the youngest kids.

 

Daryl figured at least half of the truck would be filled with Eric’s haul, and the rest left for anything from the garage that would fit.

 

Right now though, Eric wanted to make a detour. They’d passed a sign announcing pre-fab log cabins about a mile back, and were just now passing the ‘show-room’ cabins set along the interstate to attract travelers. As soon as he saw them, Eric insisted Daryl turn around and stop to look.

 

“It’ll take thirty minutes!” He insisted. “Let’s just look at them, we have time. We left early and Augusta is only another hour down the road. Come on!”

 

Daryl shook his head, but Eric was grabbing onto his arm in his enthusiasm. Practically bouncing in his seat. Another reason Maggie had paired Eric up with Daryl was that the hunter seemed completely relaxed around the other man. It wasn’t as affectionate as he sometimes was with Rick, and he hardly ever initiated the contact himself, but Eric was a very tactile person with his friends and Daryl never shied away from him.

 

With another head shake and deep sigh, Daryl moved the truck into the exit lane to double back.

 

It did not take thirty minutes. Daryl resigned himself to the detour around minute 45. Eric was a whirlwind through the cabins. The salesman trailing after him answering questions left and right, with Daryl following at a more sedate pace, listening to their discussion.

 

Where they good for off-grid living? Yes, they had the option to come fitted with solar panels (for another 5K per unit) and could be hooked up to an independent water system. Could more than one be linked to the same waste and water system? Yes, let me show you the connections outside. How many do they have of each model in overhead right now? The company’s warehouses had ten units (in each of the 6 different models) ready to go. If they paid cash, what’s the earliest delivery date to Greene County, forty miles away? If you paid in full today, we can start delivery tomorrow. How many can be delivered in one day? It would cost extra since we’d have to subcontract out the labor, but a full team of twenty men, with the right equipment could have them set up three a day.

 

He stayed behind in one cabin after Eric left to talk pricing with the worker. It was a mostly single floor unit with a loft for sleeping. There was a small kitchen, decent sized bathroom with a separate tub and shower, a living area up front, and another small room in the back. Playing around with the sink nobs in the kitchen, Daryl thought it looked neat.

 

It wasn’t something they needed. They already had the living situation sorted out. Still… it was neat. Biting is lower lip in thought, Daryl started to imagine what the cabin would look like if he and Rick had it for themselves. Using the stairs along the right wall, he went into the loft area. It was the perfect height for him to walk comfortably and still have a foot and a half space between his head and the ceiling. The room was open to below, but was big enough for a full bedroom set. The carpeted floor was a nice touch, and he could almost hear Rick yelling at him to take his boots off before he went upstairs.

 

The cabin was an honest to god show-room and fully furnished to let the prospective buyers see what it could look like if they bought it. Daryl sat down on the bed in the loft with a quiet huff and pulled out his cell phone.

 

“Dane?” He said when the call connected. “Do we, uh… do we have another $300,000 in the budget for an unplanned cost?”

 

“Son, we don’t have a budget, I told you that,” the man chuckled back at Daryl. “What’d you find?”

 

“Log cabins,” he told the Sheriff matter-of-factly. “Well, actually Eric found them. But I’m sitting in one right now, and they come already built for the most part. Solar paneled.”

 

Daryl could hear Sheriff Crowe laughing over the sound of a screen door being push open. “Hershel!” he heard Dane shout away from the phone, the sound being muffled somewhat. “Grab Glenn and Hank, Daryl’s got a proposition.”

 

He rolled his eyes while kicking his feet up on the bed and relaxing into the pillows. Clicking the phone to speaker, he set the phone on his chest and waited for the group to gather.

 

“Hey babe,” Rick said over the line. Daryl almost forgot he was preparing for the apocalypse as his eyes opened. He looked around the space and had a moment of daydreaming what life could be like if this was their cabin, and Rick was calling him from work or the store to check in before he came home.

 

“Glenn said you propositioned someone?” Rick teased. Daryl felt a small, quick smile cross his face as he heard Merle joke in the background about Rick having to work it if he thought he was gonna keep his brother’s fine ass interested.

 

The acceptance of their relationship from Merle meant the world to Daryl. It hadn’t been like that growing up, but Daryl knew that his brother was the way he was to live up to his father’s standards. What he didn’t expect though, was the rest of the group to be as accepting as they were. Especially the newer additions. But none of them batted an eye. Daryl and Rick weren’t overly affectionate in public, but they didn’t hide anything either. The fact that no one had so much as raised an eyebrow when Rick would plant a soft, quick kiss to the hunter’s lips before separating for the day was sometimes mind blowing.

 

Aaron had given him a hug when he noticed it the night before. Eric had given the man a fairly intimate hello when they returned from a Savannah trip that day, surround by the majority of their group. No one said a word beyond a few catcalls and whistles, the atmosphere staying light and happy. After dinner, Aaron had pulled Daryl aside and simply said that _this_ , this family, was exactly what they had been looking for the whole time.              

 

“Daryl, you still there?” Rick asked, breaking through his recollections and musings.

 

“Yeah,” he grunted out as he sat back up. “So we found this company that sells log cabins already built. Eric’s with the guy right now.” He rattled off the name of the company when Glenn asked for it, and heard the man typing on a computer. “They have a lot of units they could deliver starting tomorrow, but we need to have somewhere to put them.”

 

A full conversation was breaking out back at the farm and Daryl decided to lie back down to wait them out. “Hey Rick, look at model #4,” he said, directing his voice into the speaker, hoping to be heard over the din of excited voices.

 

“Number 4, got it.” Rick confirmed. Daryl closed his eyes again and settled in to listen to the relaxing chatter of his family.

 

“Hey Daryl, you in here?” Eric called from the cabin’s front door. He hollered down that he was in the loft, following it up with an order for the other man to ‘take your shoes off!’ when he heard him coming up the stairs, chuckling to himself at his own inside joke.

 

When Eric reached the top stair, Daryl snorted in amusement at the stack of brochures and folders in his hands. “Is that the farm?” Eric asked as he sat down on the other side of the bed, folding his legs under himself and setting the paperwork between them. Daryl nodded as Eric reached out to grab the phone, asking the group if Aaron was around.

 

He heard Sheriff Crowe calling Hank over to go divert the construction crews to the back lot. A septic system would need to be put in a short distance away from the homes with pipes running underground for the different lots, as well as leveling the lots themselves. Glenn got Eric’s attention and they started drafting out they layout together. Eric never went anywhere without his storage clipboard anymore. He opened it up for a pencil and pad and they got started.

 

Eric quickly sketched out the perimeter of the farm, setting the house a little ways up from the road that bisected the land. The animals, silos, fields and garage were going in the lower half, while the three living quarters, storage and clinic were already slated for the top half. Six points were quickly added to show the guard towers, almost like a pool table. Eric drew in the pond in the little valley behind the main house (Daryl would just like to add here that a pond the size of a football field probably shouldn’t be called a _pond_ anymore). The area on the top of the hill behind the house was originally slated for Rick’s orchard, but it was a lot of space, and there would still be room if they added four rows of the log cabins, five deep with enough space for a twenty foot separation in all directions.

 

Glenn added in the group’s desire for a ‘road’ between each of the lines of cabins for easy access from a vehicle to the front doors. Rick agreed there was still plenty of space for the trees, and even more off to the right that he could use if they wanted. The field behind the lot in question was an area Rick had shied away from in planning. There were too many memories of losing Dale and Shane in that field, and the group didn’t suggest it as an alternate location for the orchard. As of now, it was to be another field for the livestock to rotate into.

 

The six models came in single or two story plans, with up to three bedrooms. Maggie and Glenn, as well as Michonne wanted a two bedroom, Hank and Tyler each wanted a three bedroom for their families, while Sheriff Crowe, Rick, and Aaron all agreed they wanted a one bedroom.

 

Sheriff Crowe mentioned that the couples in the two bedrooms might want to think about the possibility of their families expanding, and they both quickly agreed that the three bedroom would be a better fit.

 

For Rick and Daryl, the idea of their family expanding was a difficult thought. Carl was their son, but he needed his own space, and was happy with the idea of the larger residential units. But the thought of Judith was something they’d been avoiding. Rick quietly asked Daryl what he thought of the larger model.

 

Both Daryl and Eric spoke up that they were fine with whichever, and Daryl mentioned that the model he was in right now, number 4 had a smaller room in the back, big enough for another bedroom if they wanted to make it one. Rick was quiet on his end, but something about Daryl mentioning this particular model a few times now must have stuck out and he told Glenn to put down model number 4 for them.

 

They decided on the additional units being three bedroom cabins as well, in case anyone preferred them rather than the larger buildings. As it was the larger structures would have five rooms on either side, top and bottom, with a bathroom on each end, also top and bottom. The top floor would be open in the center, but the ground floor center was set up as a common area. Cots and crates would do for now, they didn’t have enough mattresses to go around just yet. But the furniture was in Maggie’s list for ‘after’ the outbreak, with the plan being to use the U-Haul for transport. They had no intention of giving the U-Haul back and Tyler had mentioned that they might want to get a few more before the outbreak just in case.

 

Daryl watched as Eric finalized the plan for 20 units, gathering up his papers and the phone, and holding his hand out for the credit card. He told Eric to come get him when it was done, suddenly exhausted even though he hadn’t lifted a finger.

 

Feeling sleep overcome him, he didn’t think the salesman would mind a little nap since it looked like they would be dropping several hundred thousand into their company today. It was a nice nap, but it was interrupted by Eric grinning down at him, and the salesman shaking his hand when he followed his friend down to the lower level. He felt like he was in his own home and this man was a guest.

 

Yeah, model number 4 was the right one.

 

The worker thanked him profusely for the sale and gave him a to-go cup of coffee from their office. It was the least he could do, he said, since Eric had mentioned they still had a full day of business planned in Augusta.

 

It was only when they were back on the road, thirty minutes from their destination, that Daryl suddenly turned to Eric and asked “The cabins… was that so we could have more room for other people?”

 

Eric ducked his head down for a moment then looked back up. “Honestly,” he said, “I really just thought they looked cool. But yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I remembered something Kyle said the other night.”

 

Daryl furrowed his brows in confusion, so Eric continued. “He and Dane are going to spend the outbreak at the Sheriff’s office. Once the fences are up, the place will be safe as a base of operations. I think…” he hesitated, then cleared his throat, “I think me and Aaron are going to stay there and help them.”

 

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but didn’t comment on the new plans. “I think if they have more people like us, they could save a lot more than they could the last time,” Eric said. Daryl nodded and let out a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement.

 

Pulling off on his exit, Daryl steered the truck for the last stretch through the backroads. The conversation was tabled until later, and Daryl focused on inspecting the garage items. He signed off on another giant sum of money and made the call for the Augusta moving company to pick up the load in two days.

 

Not feeling the energy needed to move any of the smaller machinery, Daryl opted to save the space in the truck for any extra items Eric found for the school. It was a good thing too, because Eric discovered a teacher’s desk in the same mahogany finish as the student desks when they got to the store.

 

They had spotted a military surplus store on the way out of town and stopped to load a pallet of MREs, bolts, and extra blankets into the truck. They had a three hour drive back, and it was already nearing four in the afternoon. A quick stop for food and drinks for the drive, and they settled onto the highway for the return trip. Another good thing about Eric being partnered up with Daryl was that he recognized the quiet man’s distaste for mindless conversation. Opening his latest book on adolescent behavior, Eric settled in his seat with a bag of chips, occasionally mentioning something about what he read if he thought it would be relevant for the kids in the future.

 

They pulled into the drive just past seven thirty and had a team of helpers meet them in front of the steps. Daryl directed them around the pallets from the surplus store in order to unload the classroom haul.

 

Beth watched from the porch as her brother, Shawn, went down to help the rest of the men with the supplies. Neither she nor her brother had remembered what happened, and they hadn’t been told either. Beth had accepted the new reality of the farm with a quiet smile and nod. Her mother and father both assuring her this was planned for their family the few times she did question it.

 

Shawn, on the other hand, seemed excited about the changes. He was amazed with the fence, and downright thrilled at the weaponry the Sheriff and his deputies had placed in several of the shipping containers.

 

Three of the construction crew members had been assigned to the shipping containers. Their job was to insulate them for safe storage of materials rather than habitation. It still required climate control, but bypassed any of the more arduous work going into the ‘apartments’, and now the cabins. Shawn and his best friend Chris were sent to work with the construction crew on the shipping containers to keep them busy, but also involved in the reconstruction.

 

Actually, Chris and his father were both joining Shawn with the task. Chris had been on the farm when the fences arrived, and when Shawn explained what was going on, the boy had broken down in tears. Shawn was so worried about his friend’s emotional reaction to some fencing that he ran to get his father. Hershel had taken the boy on a walk down to the water and talked him through remembering his father turning and going after his little brother Alex, and then his own death three days later when some walkers found him hiding in a neighbor’s shed. His father had remembered as well, but not Alex.

 

Hershel had quickly decided to bring the family of three to the farm. He and Tyler had taken Chris back home since Tyler knew the boy’s father from their high school football days, and the three men packed up as much of the family’s belongings as they wanted into the two vehicles and locked up the house. When Daryl had returned from one of his trips that evening, a larger group went back for the furniture.

 

Shawn had thought it was the coolest thing that his best friend would be living with them, and Alex was completely taken by Lily as soon as he saw her. They were matched in age, but Lily was a bit more on the reserved side as opposed to Alex’s more extroverted nature. But she accepted the attention from the boy with a shy smile and soft blush to her cheeks. They quickly became a big help to Annette around the house with chores. And while Lily was interested in learning and helping with the classroom preparations, Alex was fascinated with Annette’s ‘magic’ in the kitchen. He was determined to be the best cook ever, after Annette of course, and shadowed her during every meal prep.

 

Beth was good at keeping track of the children when she wasn’t with Carl and Terry learning field medicine. Something Merle was helping out with even after his recovery.

 

Turns out, Merle’s time in the Army had been in the medical corps. He’d been a combat medic and had lost it on one of his CO’s for ordering him and his men into an ambush. It was poor planning on the CO’s part, and Merle lost more than one friend that day. Turns out, punching your CO in the face had unfortunate consequences, like getting a dishonorable discharge from the Army. Still, his country had trained him to be a medic, and although there were terrible memories associated with that, it was a skill he knew would be needed. That, and the education on explosive munitions he’d gotten from a few survivalist nuts he’d run with after his discharge.

 

He had taken Carl under his wing, endlessly patient with the boy as he taught him everything he knew. Rick had shown zero hesitation with Carl being scheduled to spend the day with Merle and Terry going over medical or munitions training, and Terry was grateful for the second and third pair of hands getting the clinic in order once the apartments were complete. Daryl had caught his brother excusing himself one morning at breakfast, with a look on his face like he might be getting slightly emotional.

 

He’d given Merle his space, but thought back to the conversation between Rick and Carl that had been overheard by the two brothers in the kitchen right before Merle walked out. Rick had told Carl that he and Hershel were headed into town to pick up a horse-drawn plow, and that Carl should ‘go find your Uncle Merle and get started on the clinic prep’. He asked Merle about it that night when he got home, and the two found a minute alone after dinner. Merle had just pulled him in for a lightning fast hug, told him he’d always be grateful for this, and left for his room. He didn’t elaborate on what _this_ meant, but Daryl knew his brother enough to know he was happy, and to leave it at that.

 

 

* * *

 

 

With less than a week to go until the outbreak, the farm was almost ready. The guard towers were up, but not usable for the next month or so. They had used cinderblocks, but also wet cement. And while the cement was _technically_ dry, it would be a month before any of them felt comfortable with it. Same for the storage building. The basement was dry, but they would seal it themselves after a month of setting.

 

Of the eighty-eight shipping containers they purchased, eighty-four of them were placed along the inner fence. Each guard tower had two containers on either side, stacked two high. Shawn’s team had added walkways across the top of each set for easier movement. They looked over the top of the fence line, and would offer the group the ability to cut down herds from above. Between each of the tower clusters, there were several more containers, also stacked two high for clearing the large sections of the fence where the towers couldn't reach.

 

All of the containers, while not suited for long term residential use, were able to be converted into an emergency shelter-in-place if needed. The lower level containers were all stocked with weapons, MREs, water, hygiene products, and bedding for a small group of ten or less to survive for up to a month. Waste would be a problem inside, but a small window had been added to each container at the top of one wall to remove it if needed.

 

The other four containers were designed the same way, but were moved to the Sheriff’s station once the fence had been erected around that compound. Merle and Terry had taken Carl out to look at the EMS station they had onsite, and had mirrored a lot of what they saw in the construction of their own clinic.

 

Sheriff Crowe’s wife, Leslie, turned out to be the Chief Nurse at Greene County General, aside from being a badass with a shotgun obsession. She remembered everything, and was approachingthis second chance with a take-charge attitude geared toward the group’s survival. It was safe to say, Merle and Terry were both highly impressed and terrified of the woman in equal measures. When she showed up one day in the last week with a truckload of pilfered medical supplies, both men accepted that she was their new Head-Boss-in-Charge and gratefully unloaded it into their clinic. She inspected the place like a drill sergeant, and Merle had found himself standing at attention on more than one occasion.

 

Leslie had decided that she would be staying with her husband at the Sheriff’s compound during the outbreak, helping as many people as she could. The situation in the hospital had been chaos the first time around. The military hadn’t arrived to shoot up the place, but the wave of walkers that swarmed the halls was just as bad. There had been no escaping them, and the hospital had fallen overnight. Leslie hadn’t made it out.

 

No one in their group, no matter how long they survived the first time, was willing to take a chance trying to treat an infected. It was an ugly thing to say, but it was a line they had drawn. Hershel brought up the fact that he’d lost his leg and survived the bite in the prison, which set Annette off (he hadn’t told her, thank you very much for those hysterics, Hershel), but they agreed that if they didn’t see the bite happen right in front of them and immediately sever the infected appendage, it wasn’t worth the risk. Just one walker inside the compound could destroy the chance of survival for everyone inside.

 

When Carl took Rick and the others on a walkthrough of the clinic, they had just under a week left. He told Carl he was proud of him and all that he’d accomplished with such little time, but Carl could see the contemplative look in his father’s eyes.

 

“Dad, what’s wrong?” Carl asked, recognizing his father’s quiet state usually meant something was about to go down.

 

Shaking his head slightly, Rick softly ordered his son to grab Glenn and Daryl from the front. When they joined him in the back room, Rick held up an asthma inhaler and asked them what it reminded them of. Glenn immediately caught on and Daryl wasn’t far behind.

 

The three men got into a one of the trucks and took off to Atlanta, telling the others to set up one of the two additional apartment units to be outfitted with as many cots and blankets as they had available. Rick grabbed Hank and told him to grab Tyler and head into town for any supplies they could get from the hardware store to reinforce the doors in the apartment units.

 

“You don’t know that they’ll remember,” Glenn told him when they were pulling out of the driveway. The sun was still up, but barely. It would be dark by the time they got to Atlanta. They were in the last week, and everyone was getting antsy about going outside the fence. Just because the major day of the outbreak was a week away, it didn’t mean that the virus wasn’t already out there in the shadows.

 

“You don’t know that they won’t.” He replied. “We don’t have any last names, we don’t even have the name of the nursing home,” he added. “But those are good people, Glenn. And we can use the muscle on the farm.”

 

Glenn nodded, but took a page from Daryl’s book and stayed quiet as Rick drove them into the city. They remembered the location, but Glenn had to do a lot of the directing to the actual building since Rick didn’t know Atlanta streets as well. At one of the red lights after the third wrong turn, Glenn finally told to put the truck in park and switch places with him. Daryl snorted at their clown show when rick tried to scoot over as Glenn hovered above him, but accidentally knocked his legs out from under him resulting in the guy falling straight into Ricks lap.

 

“Something I should know about you two?” The hunter asked his boyfriend around a playful smirk.

 

“Shut up.” He muttered back as Glenn finally got situated and put the truck back in drive. Glenn would later point out that he had them there in under five minutes. Rick would later tell the boy that he was so impressed, Glenn should be the driver for the entire ride back home. And Daryl would later laugh at the betrayed look on the boy’s face when Rick fell asleep ten minutes into their hour and a half long return trip.

 

When they walked into the reception, they asked for Guillermo. The man had told them that he’d been the janitor, so they weren’t shocked by the receptionist’s confused look. After a few minutes of waiting, the stairwell doors opened and Guillermo walked through. When he looked at the three of them, he stopped walking for half a second, but corrected himself and joined them with a giant smile on his face.

 

Shaking the man’s hand, Rick smiled back. “I take it you remember then?”

 

“Everything, man. Everything,” he replied as he led tem inside up to a smaller office than the one they found him in before. “Felipe and Miguel too. Some of the others. They’re here with us, and we’ve been planning, but there’s still the question of moving the old folks out.”

 

“What if I told you we had a place… a farm set up with a giant fence around it,” Rick asked him. Glenn nodded behind him.

 

“Brother, I’d say we could move tonight.” Guillermo looked overwhelmed for a moment, then leaned back against the wall and lowered his head, taking deep breaths to control his emotions. But Rick noticed a few tears drop.

 

Felipe walked in the room, trailed by Miguel. The bigger man was wearing scrubs and met the men with smiles, while Miguel caught sight of Daryl and let out a little gasp. Daryl smiled.

 

The boy stayed by the door while the others took a seat or a place on the wall to discuss the offer. The first thing Rick needed the men to understand was that the place they were going was not tolerant of any kind of bigotry. Any racist, sexist, or homophobic shit would not be okay. Felipe looked at Rick in his seat across from Guillermo, and then focused on his shoulder that was pressing into Daryl’s thigh from where the hunter stood beside him.

 

“Is that homophobic bit about the two of you?” Felipe asked with a small smile. Daryl tensed, but Rick motioned to him to relax.

 

“Not just us,” Rick replied with a firm tone, “But yeah, it’s about us. We got a real good group of people, a family back on the farm. I won’t bring anyone in who could hurt them.”

 

“Relax, man,” Miguel spoke up from the doorway, directing his comment at Daryl but gesturing to Felipe in front of him. “My cousin’s gay too but you don’t see him trying to act all upset about it.”

 

Daryl raised an eyebrow at the kid until he shuffled further behind Felipe, muttering under his breath about crazy rednecks cutting people’s feet off.

 

Rick grinned at Guillermo when the man snorted at the boy’s antics. Daryl just shook his head and asked what kind of vatos they thought they were. The room was a lot less tense for the rest of the talk, and the plan was put in place for a move in four hours. They had to do this at night, while they could control the staff. In two hours the receptionist and nurse shift would change over to the people they trusted.

 

There were a few problem guys in the first group that Guillermo had collected, and Miguel quietly asked the man if they could avoid a few of those same men this time. Felipe and Daryl both shot their attention to the boy, but his head was down and he was starting to curl in on himself from his spot on the wall.

 

Daryl squinted his eyes and looked towards the opposite wall so the boy wouldn’t see his expression and get scared. He may have beat the kid a little, _a little_ , the first time around, but circumstances were different. Whatever these few men had done to the boy had him shaking, and Daryl had no doubt Felipe would join the hunter in killing them if they even tried to look at the boy again.

 

They ordered some food while they waited for the hours to pass, and Rick got on the phone with the farm. Leslie was working the night shift at the hospital and sent two ambulances (Hank and Tyler driving), and two U-Hauls (Kyle and Merle driving) down to meet the patients in Atlanta and bring them back. Much of the rest of the crew was working on the apartment. Twenty rooms in the apartment building would be more than enough to house the Atlanta crew and their elderly. The doors had to be reinforced because the elderly had a higher likelihood of passing in their sleep. If that happened, they had to be able to secure the building immediately until the problem could be handled. The U-Haul was coming down to move the beds and as much of the medical equipment as they could from the facility.

 

They would probably hear about it in the news the following day, but the farm had been locked down starting that morning. One week was enough to finalize things on the farm, get the families moved into their new houses (if they weren’t already) and set the ones who were staying at the Sheriff’s compound up with what they needed to survive the next month.

 

The Sheriff and his team would ride out the first month behind their fences, rescuing the ones they could, and staying in contact with the farm through walkie-talkies.

 

At the nursing home, Guillermo made his calls to as many of the men he trusted. Honestly, it wasn’t many. Only four men joined them, and of that, only one had a family. They trusted Guillermo, and they trusted Felipe. So when the two men said there was going to be an attack on the city and they needed to leave, the men packed up in a hurry and met them at the nursing home.

 

The elderly were mostly on their own, with their families not visiting even before everything went down according to Felipe. None of them were in a terminal state, unless you counted being old as being terminal, but there were a couple on oxygen who would travel that distance much more comfortably in those ambulances.

 

When the truck arrived after midnight, the men got to work breaking down the facility as quickly as possible. Merle was simultaneously cursing while thanking the good lord in heaven and all his angels for this ‘beautiful bounty’ (Merle was not a religious man). Miguel thought it was funny though, and followed the man around, helping him collect the supplies he wanted.

 

They left the nursing home that night with a lot more than they planned. Not the people, Rick had sincerely thought there’d be more. But it turns out that some of those elderly from before had arrived after the walkers. Guillermo was sad they wouldn’t be there to help them this time, but he insisted Merle and the others leave enough supplies for them if they did show up.

 

After dropping the elderly off at the apartments and getting everyone situated, Hank and Tyler drove the ambulances back to the hospital while Hershel followed in the truck to bring them back. Both men were set up in their cabins, so Hershel dropped them at their door before retiring for the night.

 

Maggie had relented and called for a late change to the schedule for the following day, or rather, later that same day since it was nearly five in the morning by the time the last of the business was done. Daryl had a delivery they were expecting that morning, so he and Rick were staying up to greet its arrival. Chris and Shawn had nodded off earlier, and would be waking up to help down at the garage. Other than that the docket was cleared. They had what they needed for the next month. Hell, for the next good, long while. And they were no strangers to scavenging during the apocalypse.

 

In three days, Leslie would finish her last night shift at Greene County General, but not before dispatching two ambulances to the farm loaded for bear with medical supplies and half the contents of the pharmacy. By the following morning, over a dozen nurses and doctors would call out sick, or not show up at all. The day after that, the hospital would be overrun with walkers.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the story wants to come out, I have no choice but to provide you with another chapter!
> 
> I want to say thank you to Jenio1 for the idea of the pond behind the house and stocking it with a local hatchery, and Veronica, you and I are definitely on the same track with the animals! I was sketching out the farm today, and making notes next to each area. One of those notes included possible animals they could bring in... then lo and behold! I read your comment. I pretty much had to do it at that point. 
> 
> Thank you all for the comments and encouragement! You are all definitely one of my driving forces to keep going with this fic! 
> 
> Hope you all like the update!

The final forty-eight hours were hectic for the farm. It was the last push, and while everything they originally planned to accomplish had been completed, there were last minute adjustments that ensured they had plenty of work ahead of them for the rest of the summer.

 

Hank and Tyler moved their families into the apartment where most of the others had decided to stay to keep the children and their wives in one, secure location while they kept up with guarding the fence. The farm was _a lot_ of space to secure, and they would need as many people as possible. They would move back into the cabins once the rest of the group came back after the first month, but having the team split was going to be a strain on manpower, even if it was only five people.

 

The deputy’s wives hadn’t remembered anything from before, but both of the women were smart. They knew the preparations weren’t just some summer project. With the focus on security and weaponry they had both seen, they knew something bad was coming. As wives of Greene County deputies, the women had been mentored by Leslie for a while. They were tough, but they were understanding of others, and overall kind to their neighbors. Both mentioned wanting to train with Michonne after bonding with her during their children’s play dates.

 

One of the apartments, the third in line from the main road, had been filled with the Atlanta elderly. Felipe had insisted on living with them, but he had sent Miguel to stay with Guillermo in one of the cabins on the hill. There was an extra bedroom there for Felipe if he ever decided to move out, but he said it would be easier for him to be on hand in the new ‘nursing home’.

 

Plus, one of the men that had come up with them from Atlanta, Raul, would be staying in the nursing home with him. Nobody said anything when Raul directed Daryl to put his belongings into the same, single-bed occupancy room as Felipe’s. He did, however, give Daryl a little wink when the hunter lifted one eyebrow in an ‘ _oh really…_ ’ expression. But if Felipe and Raul weren’t ready to say anything to the group, he wasn’t going to force it.

 

Merle, Carl, and Terry all kept their initial rooms in the first apartment, although they had been renovated to now have actual rooms instead of stalls. Two of the Atlanta men, along with Seth and Kyle had both chosen to bunk there as well. Merle had gathered some of the men to help move Kyle’s home furnishings into the common area for communal use the day before the Atlanta crew arrived, and Kyle had insisted on bringing his gaming consoles since they planned on ensuring power was maintained at the farm.

 

It was also Kyle who had teamed up with Glenn to study the ins and outs of the solar panel energy project. The two men had assisted the crews that set up the cabins, getting some working knowledge and experience installing the panels on the top of each house and seeing how they were connected to use and store the energy they collected. They were convinced the installation could be replicated for all three apartment buildings, and had already scoped out the warehouses where the panels were kept for future raiding after the worst of the outbreak was over.

 

The grid had lasted for a good two months the first time, so the main house and first apartment building would be okay for now. They had set up the rest of the structures off the grid with generators, besides the cabins which were already running on the panels, and they had plenty of fuel for the generators that could get them through the rest of summer, just in case.

 

In addition to the solar panel warehouse, Maggie had sat down with the core group (the ones who remembered the past) and came up with a list of places to scavenge as soon as they were able. It would have to wait until the group from the Sheriff’s compound rejoined the group at the farm, but they settled on splitting the group into two teams.

 

The first stop would be the U-Haul or Penske station. They contemplated finding a random box truck, but decided that it was better to plan on a sure thing rather than hope to find an empty truck lying around that just happened to be well maintained. At least the moving companies kept their trucks inspected.

 

From there they would split into Team 1 consisting of Rick, Daryl, Hank, Tyler, Kyle, and Michonne; and Team 2 consisting of Glenn, Maggie, Merle, Aaron, Guillermo, and Tom (Chris’ dad). Each team would have three trucks, two riders a piece. All of the scavengers were picked from the pool of people who had remembered. It wasn’t that the others wouldn’t be useful, but the ones who were picked wouldn’t be reacting to the walkers for the first time. Merle did bring up that, no offense, but some of them hadn’t made it very long the first time.

 

 

The Deputies had died the first time because they tried to save _everyone_. They had come face to face with the walkers before, and hadn’t hesitated in putting them down after they’d turned. It was just the bitten that had surprised them, the ones that they ‘saved’ too late. Kyle and Tyler had both been in the Sheriff’s station when they pulled a young girl and her older sister in from an advancing hoard. They hadn’t known at the time that the little girl’s bite on her ankle would end so badly. She’d turned when most off the survivors were sleeping. No one in the station had made it out. Hank, though… Hank had been taken down by that same hoard, getting swarmed when he tried to give the girls more time to make it to the door.

 

Neither the deputies nor Tom were offended. Merle and Guillermo told Tom they’d keep him close to see if he felt alright being out there so early. He hadn’t lasted longer than the first day last time, but he said he’d been caught from behind at a store and hadn’t realized the bite was what would turn him.

 

Team 1’s focus was the local stores. They planned on clearing out the farming equipment store, hopefully finding a larger flatbed to move the bigger machines. The nearby Lowes was one of their goals, but they decided to check the place out to see how overrun it was before planning a raid. If they needed to, they could bring the two groups together for more cover. Lumber and building materials were a necessity though. They had several structures that were planned for the farm after the world fell.

 

Rick and Hershel wanted three greenhouses set up before winter in the far right field. The rest of the field ran in a long stretch along the right side of the property and would be used for growing food, but they wanted the greenhouses for the more delicate crops. The Armory and Garage had already gone up in the lower portion of the farm, right on the other side of the main street from the Clinic.

 

But the Laundry House right behind the Clinic needed to be finished. The pipes had been laid with the concrete, and the frame was up with wires run for electricity, but the walls weren’t finished on the inside or outside. It was an addition to the contractor’s original plan with most of it being leveling the ground and pouring concrete, and they knew they were lucky to have them complete as much as they did after going three days over schedule. The situation was the same with Rick’s Garden/Farm Center, as well as expansion of the stables for the horses and cattle. He’d had the workers put the building for the Garden/Farm Center next to the road on the right side of the farm. The subfloor was set with a wires and a frame was up, but it was unfinished otherwise. At least those three structures didn’t need plumbing.

 

Lowes and Home Depot would be an awesome haul if they could get it, but there were some local businesses that might be better to start with so soon after everything hit. They wouldn’t get _everything_ they needed, not until they could clear the larger stores, but it was a decent place to start.

 

First on the list for Team 2 was the Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as a furniture and mattress warehouse thirty minutes outside of town. The goal was to have every room furnished as soon as possible, and the BB&B would get them squared away on towels and linens for a long time. That way any new additions could get situated as soon as possible.

 

Michonne remembered how stunned they all were when they finally came across Alexandria and were given a _normal_ looking house to get comfortable in. She had concerns that they might get more complacent like many had before. Merle said he’d seen the same thing happen at Woodbury, and it had the group diving into a very serious and somber discussion about how to prevent it.

 

They had no intention of forgetting exactly how dangerous their world was about to be, and had planned for continuous training for the farm’s inhabitants. Every person who remembered their past had remembered dying. They were very motivated to prevent that from happening a second time. Even so, they decided there was no reason they couldn’t try to keep as much comfort as possible while they could.

 

Food was something they wanted as well, but they were avoiding the local grocery stores due to the likelihood of herds. There was Kroger’s distribution center about an hour away that they were planning on. Maggie had taken Michonne by in the third week, mapping out a route along the backroads instead of the highway. The roads were good for a large semi to travel, and they planned on taking as many of the group as they could using only two U-Hauls.

 

They wanted two semi-trailers, as full with food and supplies as possible to bring back to the farm. Tom, having worked in a warehouse before, brought up the idea of keeping several of the forklifts to make it easier to move the pallets into the storage building.

 

Once inside the fence, the trucks would be unloaded into the storage building, then backed up against both gates on either side on the main road for additional support. Having two gates meant constant patrol of those two areas, but two points of egress were a must, and they had already decided on seven man shifts for guard duty. One guard in each tower, and one driving a continuous circuit around the entire farm doing check-ins and monitoring the fence line.

 

The one thing no one seemed to have any expert knowledge of were the HVAC systems, apart from Guillermo having an admittedly-limited understanding of how to maintain one from his janitorial work in the nursing home. They’d had fans installed in the apartments and cabins, but a couple hard summers without maintenance would probably cause some issues with air conditioning. They had made sure to insulate the structures well, and were hoping that would get them through the worst of the heat and cold once winter hit.

 

One structure that they absolutely had not planned on was first introduced by Seth. The young man had left with Aaron the same day he introduced himself to clear out his small, one-bedroom apartment in town. When they got there, Seth had him wait outside the door for a few moments while he got Ember settled. Turns out, Seth was an MP and dog handler in the Marines for his first five years after high school. When he separated at 23 last year, he adopted his dog Ember and moved back to his home state of Georgia. Not liking the inner city noise of Atlanta where he grew up, Seth had moved out to the country. It was better for Ember’s retirement anyway, he said. Lots of hiking for them to keep active when he wasn’t working.

 

Aaron asked if Ember would be okay with the others, especially the children, but Seth assured him she was as trained as they come. Sure, she could attack on command, and she was protective of Seth, but the compact Dutch Sheppard knew a threat from a curious kid. Most people let their kids pet her when they were out, despite the working dog vest she wore, and she’d always sit calmly while they stroked and sometimes pulled on her coat.

 

The working dog vest wasn’t for show. Seth explained that his three tours had left him with a PTSD diagnosis that he didn’t really agree with. He’d felt the same way after each deployment, mostly insomnia with a tendency to stay away from large groups, and difficulty making connections with others. He trusted the men he served with, but outside of a close few, he’d isolated himself.

 

It didn’t have an effect on him in combat, he did his job and he did it well. But after his service commitment was up, he’d had a few bouts of pretty heavy anxiety trying to integrate back into civilian life. Ember was being retired due to failing the explosive detection tests on her requalification about a month after his separation. When he heard about it from a friend, he immediately put in the paperwork for her adoption. She seemed to know when he’d get overwhelmed and would stay glued to his side until he was better. It was after the first couple months of having her that he noticed that she would put her head on his shoulder whenever he felt an anxiety attack coming. He had her certified the following month as a service dog.

 

The first time the outbreak hit, he’d died trying to save her. She had attacked a walker that was cornering Seth and had been surrounded. Her cries drove him to try and fight the herd back away from her, but there were just too many and they’d taken him down too.

 

He told Aaron that he wasn’t going to leave her this time either. So if she couldn’t come to the farm, he’d figure something else out for the two of them.

 

Aaron told him the group would never do that to him and asked what kind of food she ate so they could pick up as much as possible on the way back home. He politely didn’t comment on the water in Seth eyes, or the way he was clearing his throat all of a sudden. Aaron learned a long time ago that clearing your throat was a good way to stop from crying, and he didn’t want to embarrass him.

 

Seth and Ember quickly became part of the group after that. Where he went, she followed and would sometimes receive a pat on the head from the others. When Tyler asked if it was okay for his son to pet her, Seth smiled and let them know that she could tell he was relaxed with the group so it wouldn’t be a problem. She surprised him when she licked the boy’s face in response to his excited pats, seeming to enjoy getting him to squeal in laughter. Within one week, whenever Ember was around the children, she always kept a watchful eye directed towards them, going so far as to leave Seth’s side to herd them back to the group if they started to wander.

 

Seth’s anxiety was improving each day with the labor and camaraderie he felt with the others, so he wasn’t concerned with her taking an interest in the others. It was Tyler who brought Seth’s idea about the other dogs at the station to the rest of the group. Seth had asked him if the Sheriff’s department had a K-9 unit, and when he found out there were six dogs in the station kennels, Seth had told him it would be pretty great if they could bring them to the farm.

 

Tyler had mentioned it to Sheriff Crowe, who brought it up to Rick and Hershel over lunch one day. There was plenty of room behind the Armory in the lower fields, and with all of the hands on experience they had helping with the rest of the construction, they could build a Kennel for the dogs. It wouldn’t be until later, the Sheriff’s compound was a secure location for them in the meantime. But when the two groups merged, it would be a good addition.

 

The farm had enough room for the rescue of some local farm animals that Maggie insisted was a must. They already had horses, chickens and cattle on the farm, but they could easily add more, and the pigs from the Sweeney farm down the road could be brought in. The pond had been stocked with fish in the first week, and Chris and Shawn had come across a small flock of ducks, both adult and young, at the local Tractor Supply on the second week. Hershel had just shook his head with a chuckle when the boys showed up with a truck full and took them straight to the water.

 

Chris seemed to be joining Maggie in the “Save the Animals” campaign, because he arrived back from a trip one day with a cat and six young kittens. Also found at Tractor Supply. Hershel told the boy to take them to the stables. There were haylofts for them to play in, and mice to catch. Then he told him that Chris had just earned himself the responsibility of the animal’s upkeep, and to research what they would need to collect for their wellbeing.

  

* * *

 

 

With less than forty-eight hours before “Outbreak” the farm was getting into positions. The towers were still out-of-order so the group set up on the top of the shipping containers set around the six points. During the perimeter prep for the fence, they’d had fifteen feet of forest cleared from anywhere it met the fence line. It would still be hard to stop a herd without using the guns if they were in the trees, but the flattened areas could be defended with crossbows. Daryl and Merle were tasked with training the others in proficiency with the quiet weapons once they got past the first week of the outbreak.

 

They had plenty of guns. Seriously, there were a lot of guns on the farm. But they agreed the less noise the guns made the better. There were silencers for the rifles and handguns brought in by the Sheriff, but not as many as he’d hoped to get. Silencers didn’t get rid of the noise entirely like in the movies, but they did lessen it some. If there was a walker and it could be taken down using a silencer or a crossbow, then it would. If anyone felt they couldn’t handle the number of walkers in their area, they were to call on the walkie-talkie for support.

 

Hershel told them that they had only seen a few walkers in the first week after the outbreak, but everyone was determined to stay focused on their post.

 

Sheriff Crowe and Kyle, had left two days ago, with Aaron and Eric joining them the next morning. The virus was already in the news, and no one traveled alone.

 

Daryl and Rick made the runs to put the others in position at the compound in town using a U-Haul. The truck was heavy, and the doors were high off the ground. If they did run into any trouble outside the fence, they would be better with the moving truck than one of the smaller vehicles.

 

Merle and Hank were relieved from their posts when the sun set the day before the end. After getting a rest period of about four hours, they were joined by Rick and Daryl for the ride to the hospital. Glenn and Michonne rode in the back of the truck, with Glenn splitting off to join Merle and Michonne joining Hank in the two ambulances Leslie had waiting.

 

Leslie had three bags of medical supplies with her when she met them, and had quietly told Rick she’d be leaving with them ahead of schedule. Her cell phone wasn’t getting a signal and she ask him to call over to her husband on the walkie-talkie to let him know that she was on her way and to be ready to open the gates as soon as they got there. It was a change to her original plans. Her shift was supposed to last another three hours, and even though she remembers making it out the night before the worst of the outbreak, she didn’t want to take the chance something might have sped up the timeline, even by a few hours. The cell service hadn’t dropped this early the first time.

 

The two-man ambulance crews moved quickly and quietly as they took the keys, following her hand gestures to their respective rides. Setting out within minutes of their arrival at the loading bays, the convoy pulled away from the heavily populated area.

 

The Sheriff’s compound was about fifteen minutes down the road from the hospital. Picking up their speed where they could, and running red lights at empty intersections, they made it in just under ten. Rick drove the truck inside the compound while the ambulances pulled alongside the fence, one behind the other to provide cover while the gate was opened.

 

Sheriff Crowe and Kyle met them at the truck as soon as Leslie opened the door and helped her down with her bags. They were already openly carrying rifles across their chests, and Kyle gave Rick an update that the small firefighter and EMS unit were already dwindled down to a handful. So was the Sheriff’s department. Apparently the skeleton crews they were running overnight weren’t enough to manage the number of calls they were getting.

 

Those calls shouldn’t have come in so fast. They hadn’t the last time.

 

Rick locked eyes with Sheriff Crowe with a grim look of understanding. “It’s starting. Lock it down, now.” Kyle slammed the truck’s door closed as Rick shifted to reverse. He waited until Hank backed his ambulance up away from Merle’s, and quickly spun the U-Haul back onto the street.

 

Throwing it in drive, he sped off. He looked in the side mirror to make sure the ambulances were following, and asked Daryl for the walkie-talkie.

 

They had decided that the farm would run on one frequency, while the Sheriff’s compound ran on another to avoid chatter if one side needed to concentrate on their own situation. Daryl flicked the walkie-talkie back to the farm channel and handed it over.

 

“Merle, Hank,” Rick called into the other drivers, “It’s starting early. Try not to hit anyone, but we’re moving fast. You don’t stop for anything.” He waited a moment before continuing, “Hershel, keep the posts manned, but get extra bodies on the East gate. I’ll radio in when we hit the turnoff. When you see our lights unlock the gate.”

 

He listened for Hershel’s agreement, and handed the walkie-talkie back to Daryl when he got it.

 

This shouldn’t be happening so fast. He noticed Daryl sit up in the seat and tuck one leg underneath his body as he rolled the window down and aimed his crossbow out. There, walking towards the street from the shadows of an alley was the first walker of the second apocalypse. Hearing Daryl fire the bolt, he saw him reload in his peripheral as he focused his attention back on the road and sped through the town keeping a wary eye on the shadows that were moving more than they should.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I've been asked a couple of times how big the farm is... it's big. If I remember to do it, I'll try to post a scan of what I sketched out for the layout of everything. That's if it's something you guys are interested in. Let me know in the comments. If I get a request for it, I'll try to make it happen.
> 
> With that, please enjoy the next installment!

The way out of town forced the small group to drive alongside the parking lot of the local 24-hour Walmart. During any crisis event a ton of people would inevitably end up at Walmart, even at one in the morning. It’s not that they didn’t know this was on their route, but they had all thought the trip for the ambulances would be a lot quieter than they were experiencing now.

 

They had passed a few accidents before they left the main street, and had to skirt two blocked intersections. Red lights didn’t seem to be a thing anyone was concerned about at the moment.

 

Michonne and Glenn took up defensive positions in their seats, much like Daryl had done, but they were carrying handguns instead of a crossbow. Granted the guns had silencers on them, but they still attracted attention. Passing the first blocked intersection meant driving on the sidewalk, and while all three of the vehicles’ passengers could cover their own side, their drivers were too focused on keeping a fast pace to handle anything off to the left. The second intersection still had space for them to fit through even though it was a bigger accident in size.

 

The first walker from the alleyway had gone down quietly, but as they progressed towards the Walmart lot they came across number two, then three, then four… After the tenth walker, and being forced to slow somewhat to navigate around empty cars obstructing the road, they lost any hope this would be a peaceful drive back to the farm.    

 

Rick had insisted that anyone leaving the farm in the last two days would take enough ammunition for their weapon to be comfortable if they ended up stranded and surrounded. Michonne, of course, had brought her sword, and the rest of them had grabbed crowbars or machetes. While they were in the trucks though, they were using the distance weapons.

 

They could have just left the walkers to wander, it wasn’t like they were able to smash in the windows of their rides. But without even discussing it, the passengers knew that one less walker meant one less to add to a herd if something went wrong on the drive. Walkers were almost easy to take down on their own, but get them in a large enough group and the only option was to run.

 

The next intersection they came to also had an accident, and while they could make it through this one as well, it was less of a breeze than the last one. The space was smaller so they had to slow down to a crawl to make it through. This one had more walkers too.

 

Daryl had fully turned his body to the window by now, less interested in the way forward. He was giving all of his attention to damage control along the right side of the area. His bag in the foot well had been repurposed to act as a giant quiver for the bolts. As soon as he fired one, he reached down without even looking to grab another, set the bow against the door, and notched the new bolt into place. It was an efficient process that took only a few seconds to accomplish.

 

Getting past the last part of the multi-vehicle accident in the middle of the intersection, Rick started accelerating again. They were getting to be right next to the huge, and very crowded Walmart parking lot. The gas station on the corner was loaded with cars, people were running…screaming…fighting. Seriously, Rick thought to himself, why wouldn’t you have a fist-fight over gas? It’s not like there were walkers attacking people five feet away or anything?

 

Rick was shaking his head as he refocused on the street when Daryl yelled out all of a sudden, “Stop! Stop the truck!”

 

As soon as he spoke, he was slinging the crossbow strap over his shoulder and opening the door. Rick slammed on the brakes and heard the ambulances behind him screech to a halt. “Daryl, no!” Rick shouted after him, but he’d already left the vehicle, running back to one of the cars in the wreck.

 

As soon as he neared the driver’s door of a blue 4-door sedan, a walker looked up from the other side, snarling as it reached across the hood. It had been pawing at the closed windows of the car, a small dog barking from the back seat had caught its attention. Daryl took the shot immediately, dropping the walker in seconds. He did a quick glance in the driver’s seat, empty. A look around the intersection found no humans nearby. Not alive, anyway. Instead of loading another bolt, he swung the crossbow at the back window, smashing it in, then slinging it back over his shoulder.

 

The sound of the glass breaking plus the dog’s barking was attracting more walkers from the gas station on the corner. Instead of stopping their progress he reached into the car to open the door from the inside. Michonne and Glenn had come out to the street to cover him, taking head shots before the interested walkers got to the street. They did their best to try and keep as much space between the walkers and the intersection as possible.

 

Hank was the driver of the third vehicle in the convoy, open to the most traffic from the left. He’d had to quickly lower his window and fire into the crowd of at least a dozen walkers approaching their group from his side. Rick and Merle joined in, but they could see more coming in the distance. Had it really happened this fast last time?

 

Back at the sedan, the dog was still barking but it had wedged itself against the far door and the back of the passenger seat. The dog wasn’t the goal, though. The baby girl in the car seat screaming her head off was.

 

“Daryl, get your ass in the truck! Let’s go!” Merle was shouting from the cab of his ambulance, almost parallel to Daryl’s position. Ignoring his brother for now, he quickly pulled out his knife, slicing the seatbelt from where it was keeping the car seat strapped in place.

 

He grabbed the quilted diaper bag from the seat, sliding it over his head to rest on his back next to the crossbow. Grabbing the handle for the carrier, he paused for a second. Reaching over, he grabbed the dog by the scruff and hauled it out of the car, pulling it closer to his body as he straightened back up. Tucking the dog under one arm and getting a good grip on the car seat handle, he took off back to the U-Haul.

 

Michonne and Glenn were firing into a quickly approaching crowd of walkers from the gas station, the drivers doing the same for the crowd approaching from the left. Daryl shouted to Rick to open the door as he ran. He reached the truck right after the door swung open and tossed the dog into the cab. Not the most gentle, but it was still better than leaving it in that car. He was more careful of the car seat, handing it over to Rick while the man let out a “what the fuck?” in a hushed, bewildered tone.

 

Glenn shot a walker coming up to their group from the front of the convoy, just a few feet from Daryl’s right shoulder. “Let’s go! Now, Daryl!” he shouted as he got back into the ambulance with Merle.

 

Seeing the walker go down after getting so close, Daryl swung himself up into the cab and slammed the door shut. Rick shifted into drive, shot a hand out to steady the carrier, and took off.

 

Merle came over the walkie-talkie once they were past the Walmart and turning off onto a less crowded street. Daryl had moved the carrier to the foot well between the driver and passenger seat for stability while Rick drove, settling the now silent dog on the bench between them. He ignored Merle’s vicious cursing about “we stick to the fucking plan!” and “we didn’t do all this god damn work to die at the fucking Walmart!” Instead he settled into his previous place with the crossbow pointed out the window and the extra bolts resting in their bag against his foot.

 

Rick knew Daryl was not a man of many words, and he knew when they got back to the farm Merle was going to have another go at his brother. Still. Rick was planning on having his own conversation with the man when they were alone.

 

Then again… Rick spared a quick glance down at the baby carrier, and another for the dog. His hunter had rescued a dog… The baby, sure. If Daryl had spotted that baby all alone in the car, looking like a happy meal just waiting for a walker to snatch up, of course the man would want to save her. But the dog?

 

Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Rick couldn’t help the laugh that escaped as he shook his head and sped towards the turn off for the back roads. Daryl was more of a soft soul than anyone would imagine at first glance. Maybe he wouldn’t be ‘having words’ when they got back. Words were never their go-to for the big emotions anyway. Maybe what he wanted to do was grab Daryl and hold him for a good long while. If the other man had a problem with that, tough shit. The group had just emptied seven magazines for this detour.

 

Granted, it was a baby… but seriously. Seven magazines at 19 bullets each… But, yeah… Baby.

 

The backroads were a lot quieter. A lot of the houses they passed had lights on, which was not that common for going on two in the morning but there were no walkers in the yards as they rushed by.

 

Merle had gone quiet on his end, and the rest of the crew hadn’t seen a need for more voices over the radio. With the dog and the baby having settled, the sounds of the truck’s engine and the wheels on the road became a calming white noise for Rick.

 

Even when he broke the silence to call in to Hershel that they were turning onto the farm’s road and should be arriving in just a few minutes, there was still a subdued feeling in the air of the U-Haul. The further they had traveled from the center of town, the darker their surroundings got. And while the heavy forest on either side of the farm road could sometimes make Rick feel a little claustrophobic, right now it just felt safer.

 

The headlights glared against the dark, tight weave of the fence as he pulled into the free space the construction crews had cleared around the fence line. Rick felt a sense of validation that he’d done the right thing by having this area cleared. Walkers wouldn’t be hidden by the trees, able to ambush returning vehicles.  

 

Guillermo opened the gate with Raul and Felipe while Seth provided cover with a rifle from the storage container closest to the right side of the opening. The three vehicles drove in quickly and continued down the main street of the farm to the other end.

 

The East gate, named so because it was the gate on the East end of the road running across the farm, was quickly closed behind the vehicles. Guillermo and Felipe climbed into a pickup truck waiting nearby while Raul climbed up the container on the opposite side of ‘Main Street’ from Seth. The two men resumed their sentry posts, watching the road and surrounding area beyond the fence for any threats.

 

Ember had stood up in her spot on the ground next to Seth’s container when the gate was opened, but hadn’t moved away as the smaller crew had come in. She watched as the U-Haul and two ambulances drove away, as well as the pickup truck when it followed behind them. But she resumed her sitting position from before. If Seth was working, she was too. She occasionally monitored their area of the new perimeter road, but never went very far from the container.

 

The road running the perimeter of the farm wasn’t the only road put in by the construction crews. Main Street was called that because it was the primary road that connected the East and West gates. It was already established before the construction, as was the horseshoe driveway for Hershel’s house set halfway between the gates. Directly across the main road from Hershel’s drive was a large field dedicated to wheat, corn, as well as a few other crops to resupply the animal feed.

 

There was no road leading to the pond behind the main house, and Hershel had preferred to leave it untouched. There were, however, new roads that had been leveled out into the North and South areas of the farm on both sides of the main road.

 

Near the East gate, Northeast Street led up to the buildings that would house Rick and Hershel’s farming/garden equipment and supplies, as well as their greenhouses and main field for produce. It continued on for the length of the northern quadrant of the land on the inside of the produce field, and met back up with the perimeter road at the far end. Southeast Street led down to the silos first, and then to the stables for the horses on the perimeter side, and the wheat/corn fields on the other. Unlike Northeast Street, the southern road cut off after the stables to keep the large area in the southeast quadrant free for the horses. It did, however, take a hard right and boxed in the wheat/corn fields, meeting up with its twin Southwest Street on the other side of the farm.

 

The perimeter side of Southwest Street first met the Armory, then the Garage for vehicle maintenance. The Kennels were expected to be built in the same plot of land as these two buildings, set close to the perimeter road behind the Armory. The rest of the southwest quadrant was dedicated to the cattle, pigs, and chickens with another large area left for grazing.

 

Northwest Street led to the Clinic, directly across Main Street from the Armory. Behind the Clinic was the building erected for a dedicated Laundromat (no quarters needed). After that was the storage building with subterranean space. The residences followed with Apartment 1, where the farm’s residents who hadn’t wanted to stay in a cabin lived. This was followed by Apartment 2, currently empty, and Apartment 3 which housed the Atlanta elderly and had been renamed the Nursing Home.

 

The street continued up to an elevated portion of the farm that held the cabins. The perimeter side of the street in this area still had a good bit of trees that the group had decided to keep. It wasn’t a forest, but it was a decent amount. The cabins were set up in rows in the inner side of Northwest Street, with a small road branching off between each row, and a small border road surrounding the neighborhood. Along the outside of the right border road, directly across from the cabins were the orchard trees they had planted. They weren’t producing fruit just yet, but Hershel said they should be good next season.

 

Just like Northeast Street, Northwest Street ran the length of the northern quadrant until it met back up with the perimeter road. The far northern area of the farm had not been touched, and could be expanded on later if they needed. In the meantime, they were going to continue on with the original plan to use it as an alternate grazing area for the livestock.  

 

Terry and Carl met the ambulances to help unload when they pulled onto Northwest Street, next to the Clinic. The residences and frequently populated areas had been established on the west side of the farm on purpose. The road out of the West gate led to the smaller, historic side of town with a lot less traffic, and a lot less likelihood of large groups of walkers in the early days. The farm itself was pretty remote, all things considered, and the Greene’s had lasted for a good while before the herd hit the last time.

 

With the help from Guillermo and Felipe added to the mix, as well as the two ambulance crews, the supplies were off loaded pretty quickly. The crew that had been in town were given downtime, but expected to be on the rotation for the next evening’s changeover of guard duty.

 

Daryl had taken the baby from the truck when they parked but set her carrier on the ground to grab the dog once it started whining. The dog was not small, Daryl had realized after setting it on the ground. It was just young. It looked to be a shepherd or shepherd mix with a medium coat, almost entirely black except for a white patch on its chest. Judging by the size of those paws, it was going to be a pretty large dog. The puppy took in its surroundings silently, then looked up at Daryl as he picked up the baby carrier again and headed to the Clinic. The dog followed at his heels, sitting down when he stopped, and trailing him when he moved.

 

After moving the supplies inside, Michonne grabbed Terry and immediately tracked down Daryl and the Baby in one of the back rooms. She was excited to see the little girl, rubbing her finger along her tiny cheek. “She can’t be more than a year old,” she told the room. Really, she had just told Daryl, but they had an audience by then. “I can’t believe you saw her.”

 

She shook her head, eyes watering, and grabbed the hunter in a quick hug. Daryl wasn’t always comfortable with people grabbing him suddenly, but they’d grown so close in the final few months from the before when personal space wasn’t really a luxury they could afford. She’d become family as much as if they’d been around each other their whole lives.

 

Daryl accepted the brief hug and pulled back to look at the baby again. “Do we have things for her? Food and stuff? I went through the bag that was with her and there was some food,” he said. And sure enough the diaper bag had been dumped out on the room’s exam table to show diapers, wipes, several jars of baby food, and a few teething rings and pacifiers.

 

Michonne smiled at him as he picked the baby up from the carrier when she started to fuss under all the attention in the room. “Plenty,” she told him with a grin. Slapping a hand back against Terry, she continued, “I told them I wasn’t crazy for loading the trailer down with things for a baby. They tried to tell me Andre was too old for it to be useful. But look who’s going to use it now.” Her voice had gotten more sing-songy as she continued. Not baby talk really, just normal words but with a melody.

 

“Hey, if you wanna show me what they need, I’ll grab the stuff for short stack over here,” Merle told Michonne, Apparently watching his brother with the baby had changed his mind about any prior yelling he'd planned to do. She nodded and with another brush of her hand against the girl’s soft dark hair, she made her way towards the door.

 

“Short stack?” Glenn asked.

 

“What? She was about to become breakfast for that walker out there,” Merle explained as he was leaving, like it made all the sense in the world. “If I was having breakfast right now, I’d want myself a short stack of pancakes.”

 

Glenn snorted, and Daryl just shook his head while Terry took the baby to look her over for any injuries.

 

Rick hadn’t joined them in the Clinic, finding Hershel and debriefing him on what had happened on their run instead. They’d switched a walkie-talkie over to the Sheriff’s channel and had learned that the town had been hit, and hit hard. Whatever had caused the timeline to lose a day, they had no idea. But the only thing they could do now was wait it out.

 

The manpower in the station was not nearly what the Sheriff had hoped for going into this. Most of the deputies had been scheduled heavier for the following day, and Sheriff Crowe was cursing every walker in a five mile radius for what he imagined was a definite loss of his men a second time. Kyle had set up on one of the two shipping containers to watch for survivors and pick off the walkers that got too close to the gate. Like the farm set up, they’d had placed one on either side of the gate. Only two of the off-duty deputies had shown up. Both had families and were good men to have. The Sheriff was happy for small mercies, but still saddened over the greater loss.

 

Annette handed Rick a Tupperware container for him and Daryl as he said goodnight and left to gather his hunter and head to their cabin.

 

To say that he’d forgotten about the baby would be inaccurate. It was more that he’d been so focused on the Sheriff’s situation that it wasn’t on his mind until he got closer to the Clinic. Merle and Michonne were headed towards him from the storage building, both carrying boxes of supplies. Felipe and Guillermo were behind them carrying larger pieces under their arms, and it wasn’t until Felipe got closer and Rick saw a compressed playpen that he remembered their little survivor.

 

The four carried their hauls to the pickup truck and Guillermo told Rick he’d drive them up to the cabin when they were ready. Felipe wished them a good night, and walked down the road to the nursing home. Rick didn’t have to go inside to get Daryl, the others had already done that it seemed. By the time he was waving bye to Felipe, the hunter was standing in front of the clinic with a baby carrier in his hands and a dog at his feet.

 

The trip up to the cabin wasn’t a talkative one, and honestly, they were all ready to crash from the late hour. Shifts would be made, and routines would get normal soon. But they’d spent the last month on a pretty diurnal schedule for activity. It would take time to get used to the late nights again.

 

Guillermo helped them set up the playpen in the main room, and the bassinette in the loft. The supplies went into the fridge or cupboards in the kitchen, and the extra diapers and baby supplies were laid on the kitchen table. The dog food Merle had grabbed was set out on a dish on the floor, with a bowl of water beside it.

 

Daryl kicked off his boots and carried the baby up to the loft to put to bed, changed into a pair of sweats and came back downstairs. The first two rows of cabins had been furnished with appliances and furniture (IKEA was a beautiful thing when you were looking for mass produced furnishings with easy setup), and the back two rows would be taken care of later along with the empty Apartment 2 building down the hill.

 

“She’s pretty quiet for a being so young.” He was speaking softly. It wasn’t just for the sleeping baby’s sake, he honestly didn’t know how Rick was going to react to this. He watched as Rick folded a blanket up and set it on the ground beside the couch. He snapped his finger and pointed to the blanket, and the puppy came over, plopped himself down and looked up at Daryl from his spot across the room. Daryl didn’t know what he was looking for, but the puppy finally set his head down on his front paws and settled in for a rest.

 

Rick gestured him closer and after turning off the main overhead light, Daryl joined him on the couch with the soft glow from the table lamp encouraging him to relax into the cushions.

 

“She is,” he agreed with Daryl’s earlier comment. “Let’s hope we get lucky and she stays that way long enough for us to get some sleep.” The couch was deep enough, so Daryl swung his feet up and pulled Rick down to rest against him. He wanted them to sleep in their own bed tonight, one – because it was theirs, and two – because the baby would probably wake up at some point and he wanted to be there when she did. But for now this was good.

 

“Oh hey,” Rick startled, rising from the couch. Much to Daryl’s displeasure. “I almost forgot our food.” He grabbed the Tupperware container and two forks from the kitchen and came back to the couch so they could get something in their stomachs before passing out.

 

“Seriously man, are you okay with this?” Daryl blurted out around his first mouthful. He was always one for ripping off the band aid. He was nervous about the answer, but made sure to hold Rick’s eye as he asked.

 

Rick gave him a quiet smile, then looked up to the loft. “I don’t feel like she’s gone,” he told him. “I know Lori’s not here, but she could still show up. It’s early, so…” He shook his head and scooped another forkful of mashed potatoes. “I just have this feeling. It’s like Judith will be here. On this farm with us.”

 

Daryl watched him as his eyes took on a faraway look, his daydreaming face. Rick turned his face back to look him in the eye with such a serious expression, “Does that make sense?”

 

Nodding his head slowly, Daryl gave him what he hoped was the most reassuring look possible, “Yeah. Yeah it makes sense.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little chapter to finish out the weekend. Enjoy!
> 
> I've posted the artwork I was mentioning before to a tumblr created solely for this story. I know it forces you guys to leave AO3, and I'm sorry... but tumblr rocks at images... AO3, not so much imo.
> 
> Anyways, here you go: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rickssecondchance

The sound of a happy baby’s high-pitched squeals drug Daryl from his sleep. Before opening his eyes, he slung an arm over to the baby’s bassinette they’d placed next to his side of the bed last night. She’d been big enough that she didn’t need a bassinette, a crib would have worked. But it was late when they got back, and the cribs would take longer to put together. Merle had told him she should still fit inside, and she did. Plus, Daryl wanted her nearby. Finding it empty had his eyes shooting open, as did the sudden knowledge that he was alone in the loft.

 

Sitting up, he shook his head a little to clear it and oriented himself enough to know that there were people down in the kitchen. More than just Rick and the baby.

 

He grabbed a shirt from the dresser drawer and threw it on as he descended the stairs. Turns out Carl was in the kitchen with Rick and they were feeding the baby. Carl was smiling as he looked up at him making his way towards them. Daryl felt a wave of relief at the boy’s acceptance of the baby.

 

He’d been worried about it once they got back to the farm last night. As he’d emptied the contents of the diaper bag back in the Clinic, he’d thought there might possibly be a problem bringing the child into the family setting he had with the Grimes men. He wasn’t forgetting about Judith, he would never try to replace her. She had become his daughter and he loved her with everything he had. He’d died trying to save her.

 

When he went back for the baby, he wasn’t even thinking about Judith. Only that there was a baby, and he couldn’t leave it to be eaten. He couldn’t.

 

But seeing Carl hold a small spoon coated in bright blue rubber, feeding this little girl with Rick leaning back against the counter with a grin on his face had Daryl standing just outside the kitchen and letting a small smile come out.

 

Rick held out a cup of coffee and the hunter immediately continued into the room, taking the mug with a quick kiss good morning.

 

“Where’d you get the highchair?” he asked Carl, pulling out his own chair at the table and taking a seat near the two of them. He reached a hand up to play with the dark hair framing the baby’s face. She turned her attention from Carl and the spoon as soon as he touched her, bringing one hand up to her mouth as she took him in.

 

“Merle came and got me this morning,” Carl told him as he scooped some more baby food out of the jar. “He filled me in on what happened. Said there was a baby in a car.” He smiled up at Daryl and offered him the food, but Daryl shook his head and gestured for Carl to continue feeding the baby while he had his coffee. “He took the dog out for a walk.”

 

Carl laughed, then tried to straighten his face to continue, “It seemed pretty excited to go outside but Merle said he was obedient so it wouldn’t be a problem.” He let a giant grin ruin his composure. “That dog took off for the lake as soon as the door was open. Barking all the way with Merle running after it yelling his head off.” He dissolved into a laughing fit until the baby started slapping the table, refocused on wanting her food that was being withheld due to Carl’s slacking off on the spoon duty.

 

“I don’t think I’d be able to repeat the cursing if I tried,” Rick told him from his spot on the counter. “Your brother’s got a pretty imaginative vocabulary.”

 

Daryl snorted into his mug and rose from the table to go out on the porch. Each cabin had a small porch with a railing connected to the three front steps leading down to the ground. The space on their model wasn’t too big, but it was enough for a few chairs and a table. Which they didn’t have. Yet.

 

Mike, Michonne and Andre were set up in the cabin next to theirs, and Mike had been a wood craftsman in the past. He had already told them he wanted to set up a workshop and build things the community might need or want, but they hadn’t set up a space yet. Or gathered the materials and tools.

 

Hershel had talked about there being space near the East Gate, in the same plot of land as the silos. It was added to the list of construction to be done after the outbreak, but wasn’t mentioned in enough time to get the developers to clear the land and lay a foundation. Also, it wasn’t a _necessary_ thing, so other items like the greenhouses and Laundromat would take precedence.

 

Still, Daryl though it would be nice to sit on a chair and watch the farm as he stepped out on the porch to look down at the lake, spotting Merle on a bank next to Hershel. He looked like he was still yelling at the dog, who was now splashing in the water and charging after the ducks whenever they landed too close. Except he was too far away for Daryl to hear the yelling. Merle looked to be enjoying himself anyway, throwing his head back and laughing at something Hershel must have said.

 

He was joined on the porch by Carl and Rick, now holding the baby. They watched the scene down the hill for a few moments until Carl said he was going to head down and join the dog wrangling. Rick bounced the baby a few times and ruffled Carl’s hair as the boy left the porch and took off at a run down the hill.

 

“You missed breakfast,” Rick said as he came to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Daryl at the railing.

 

Daryl let out an “hmmm” of acknowledgement as he took another sip of the coffee and watched the morning. People were already up around the farm, moving around down near the apartments and Hershel’s house.

 

The sentries were on post on top of the containers, at least the ones Daryl could get a good look at, and a small pickup was driving in a clockwise circuit on the perimeter road. He watched as it drove down the Northeast quadrant of the perimeter and made its way down to the East Gate, tuning back in to hear Rick tell him Annette and Shawn had been by with the food and a wake up call, and that Rick had saved Daryl’s breakfast in the microwave.

 

“Is he okay with this?” Daryl asked, setting his mug down and reaching to take the little girl from Rick.

 

Rick smiled and ran a hand down her back where she was sitting up straight in Daryl’s arms. She was taking the upheaval of her life _very_ well. At the moment she had her hands on the hunter’s face, pushing his cheeks around and talking to him in a string of babbles.

 

“She talks more for you,” Rick mused before picking up Daryl’s mug and finishing it. “You were asleep for a while. Carl and I talked about it.”

 

Daryl pulled the baby in for a hug and she settled on his shoulder as he started up a gentle swaying motion. He raised his eyebrows at Rick to continue.

 

“He cried a little at first. We talked about Lori not coming here, not showing up by now. And what that could mean.” He settled a hip on the railing and kept going, “She’s with Shane. He kept her safe the last time, he’ll do it again. Who knows, with Carl being here maybe she’ll head back this way.” He smiled a little, looking over to Daryl and motioning him back inside. “However Judith gets here, it looks like we’ll already have a room set up for her. They can share.”

 

Daryl looked at Rick and took a minute to really take him in. It’s not that he thought the man was being delusional. It’s just that Rick had always had this way of deciding how something was going to turn out, then _believing_ in it so hard that it had no choice but to be true.

 

Daryl believed more in taking each day for what it was, making the most of being here, with the people he had now. He wanted Judith back, but he didn’t have the faith that Rick seemed to possess.

 

Not sharing this with Rick since it benefited no one to go around voicing doubts, he followed the man into the kitchen where he traded a baby for a plate of food.  

 

The rest of the morning saw the three of them joining the group down at the lake. The dog, now completely filthy, came up to greet them happily as soon as he saw their approach. Merle muttered about the dog finally finding his manners now that Daryl was here. Daryl snorted, but Rick let Merle know that he’d be giving the dog a bath since he was the one to let him out. Merle chuckled around a “yeah, yeah.”

 

Hershel had explained that he didn’t think the dog was even three months old yet, maybe not even two. Rick was stunned as he looked down at the puppy’s size. This dog was going to be massive. Daryl took Carl and the baby for a walk around the lake. Rick knew the two needed time to talk things through in their own quiet way. He smiled at the sight of the puppy trailing after them and turned back to Hershel and Merle. “Anything happen so far?”

 

Hershel nodded and the three started their way up to the main house.

 

“Otis and Patricia,” He started. “They showed up at the gates about an hour ago. Terry’s on first shift at the Clinic, so he checked them over. I’ll tell you, I was a little worried they wouldn’t come this time with the fence being here. But they’re right on track with the last time.” Hershel explained they were still in the house with Annette. They hadn’t taken them around yet because the two were still unsettled after a walker tried to get inside their station wagon when they were leaving their home. 

 

Neither had remembered anything. Which Rick thought was probably better since they had thought they could save the walkers before. Hershel’s family had come to terms with things pretty quickly after the farm fell. But these two hadn’t made it that far last time, and they never really got to experience that ‘come to Jesus’ moment.

 

Rick met them in the kitchen as Hershel introduced him and Merle as close friends of the family. They sat down together, Hershel and Annette being a calming support for their friends. Rick explained how things were now.

 

They had seen a walker already, it was easy to bring them on board. Merle told Otis he was taking this real well given that the world was ending. Which made Patricia speak up and ask why the others _weren’t._

 

“Ma’am,” Rick ran a hand through his short hair. If he had a hat, he’d probably be playing with the brim. “That’s a really long story, but some of us did know before it happened.”

 

There was no point in lying about things. They had learned that the truth would always come out eventually. If they hoped to have a long lasting community, lies weren’t the way to go. “We couldn’t make people believe the dead were going to get up and start eating people.”

 

“Eating people!” Patricia said, alarmed.

 

“But we tried to make a safe place for people to come when it happened,” He continued, ignoring her interruption.

 

Annette took Patricia out to see the new buildings while Otis took a ride around the perimeter with the other three men. Otis was amazed with all they had managed in just a month. He liked the idea of a cabin for him and Patricia and asked whether they thought it might be possible to go back for some of their things.

 

Rick was happy Otis was taking to the changes and assured him that after the first month, they could take a truck and fill it up.

 

For Otis, it was seeing the farm. For Patricia, her moment of acceptance came when she was visiting with the elderly in the Nursing Home. Her mother had passed in the last year, and she had taken it pretty hard. She and Otis had never had children, and she had remained close with her parents as they aged. Her father had passed years ago, but losing her mother recently had been significantly worse for her.

 

While they were heartened to have gotten over the reveal as well as they had with Otis and Patricia, they hoped things would go smoothly with the rest of the farms occupants. But the others had been inside of the fence the whole time. They hadn’t seen a walker up close.

 

Rick wasn’t hoping for a herd this early, but it might help things if they were able to observe a walker from the top of the containers. _Like a zoo_. Rick chuckled to himself at his own ridiculousness. But was it really ridiculous? It was the apocalypse. Again.

 

He left the old friends to catch up while he and Merle went to the storage to grab a crib for the baby. They met Maggie and Glenn on their porch when they made it up to the top of the hill.

 

Rick and Daryl had taken the last cabin on the first row, Daryl preferring to be on the end. Maggie and Glenn had taken the cabin on the opposite corner of the lane. As soon as Rick turned the truck onto their road, Glenn flagged him down to give him the heads up that he and Rick were on the schedule to join the third watch at 11 that night.

 

Merle assured him he’d watch the baby, not to worry about it. They got back to the cabin and heard the laughter from the back yard. Merle and Rick set the parts for the crib in the back room, and stepped out the back door. Seth was with Daryl, washing the puppy while Carl sat with the baby in the grass watching on. She was laughing as she reached out to try and pet Ember. The older dog was sitting up watching the new puppy, occasionally nudging the little girls face with a quick nuzzle and backing up when she squealed and reached out.

 

Merle was happy to avoid the cleaning duty himself, and said as much. Daryl grinned back while he toweled the puppy dry and played a gentle tug of war when the little dog grabbed the end and started to pull.

 

Ember barked once, and the puppy settled. It looked up to Daryl and he was struck again by the feeling of not knowing what it wanted. With the way this dog looked at him, it was like he was trying to talk to the hunter. There was intelligence in its eyes and he felt out of his depth the same way he did when the baby ‘talked’ to him and he had no idea how to respond.

 

Doing the same thing he’d done for her, he decided to just talk back. He looked down at the puppy and told him “There’s food in the house, but you can’t be in there all filthy like ya were.” The puppy shifted in its spot and continued to watch. “Well alright. Yer clean now, get inside.”

 

He walked towards the door, picking up the baby on his way and settling her on his hip as he opened the back door to lead the dog inside. Seth told Rick that he’d be happy to work with the puppy if they wanted. He’d brought up a leash and harness for them earlier, but he could do some training with the puppy while it was young. Said it was easier to train a dog right the first time instead of it learning bad habits. Carl immediately asked the man if he wouldn’t mind letting him learn too.

 

It seemed to Rick that Carl was trying his hardest at becoming a jack of all trades. Good. That was their plan for as many people as possible on the farm. He was happy his son was emulating that.

 

They had food in the cabin for dinner, Rick had told Annette not to worry about them before he’d left earlier. He offered to have Seth join them, but the man had a guard shift starting soon and excused himself back down the hill.

 

Merle had taken the first shift after they’d returned saying there was no way he’d be able to get to sleep then. But he was running on empty now and agreed to stay for dinner, as long as Daryl was making his stew. He and Carl helped Rick set up the crib they’d brought back from storage while Daryl set the baby up in her high chair with some cheerios to watch him cook. The bassinette would be taken back down to storage when they left for their shift that evening, and Merle would sleep on the couch. If the baby woke up, he’d be there to hear her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I can't sleep until I write apparently, here's the next installment! 
> 
> Enjoy! And remember, I love to hear from you guys!

Aside from a handful of walkers along the perimeter, the farm hadn’t really been disturbed in the first week. And even then, the walkers only came one at a time. Hank and Tyler both decided early on that they wanted their wives to see what they were dealing with. Neither of the women had remembered, and seeing a walker for the first time was more than a little off putting.

 

Daryl had radioed in when he spotted the first one by his post shortly after sunrise one morning. Helping Joan, Hank’s wife up on the container, he stood by and let her look her fill. “You wanna try?” he asked, holding the crossbow out to her. She and Daryl both looked back at her husband and saw him nod in encouragement. Bringing Joan in front of him, Daryl moved her hands into the correct placement on the weapon and guided her aim from behind.

 

“Always aim for the head,” he murmured. “The brains the only way to kill ‘em.” She missed the first shot, and Daryl quickly took the crossbow and reloaded. Joan had started backing away from him, her head down until Daryl stopped her. “Where you goin’? It’s still down there.”

 

Sure enough, the walker was still near their portion of the fence, having been distracted by the bolt hitting the ground just past where it had been.

 

He brought her back and corrected her stance as she brought the crossbow back up. “No one makes the first shot anyway.” They took their time, Daryl giving her tips for aiming. She made the second shot. The smile that lit up her face was brilliant and in her excitement she grabbed Daryl in a hug.

 

He’d come a long way with meeting new people, considering his attitude from the quarry days. But surprise physical contact like this still caused him to freeze and tense up. Hank smiled at Daryl’s awkwardness and removed his wife from the hunter with a shake of his head and a small chuckle.

 

Still, the two stayed with the hunter for a little while longer. Enough for them to learn about the crossbow and make plans for training with Daryl once the weapons immersion began.

 

The training wasn’t set to start until after the town crew returned in a month. Glenn and Maggie had been busy making schedules for the farm and training was up there along with the rest of work that needed to be done still on construction and the overall management of this much land and livestock. The first thing to be sorted though, was guard duty.

 

Excluding Carl, there were twenty-eight adults on the farm at present. The ones who remembered the past knew Carl was not a child, but he still looked like one to the rest of the group, and Miguel was only slightly better off in the size department.

 

For the most part, Rick had decided they needed to tell the newcomers that they knew this was coming. Who could question that when the reconstruction of the farm was proof enough? But except for Annette, no one knew they had actually lived through this before. Hershel had said they’d tell them as the subject came up, one by one, and the group had agreed.

 

In the meantime, shifts were scheduled for eight hours a piece at each guard tower, with one Runner in the pickup. They had just enough people to make it work, Otis filled in and took Miguel’s place on the roster starting the second day.

 

Annette and Patricia didn’t have a rotation of guard duty, but not because they weren’t trusted. It was because everyone had gotten used to Annette’s cooking and when Patricia baked up several breakfast casseroles the first morning after she and Otis arrived, almost everyone insisted she and Annette oversee the kitchens. They were happy to oblige.

 

With over forty people to feed on the farm, and at least five more joining from the Sheriff’s compound down town, they had enough to keep them busy with meal prep alone. Granted some of those numbers were children, but still… It was a full day of work for them every day.

 

For each eight hour shift the runner would relieve the sentries one at a time roughly every two hours. It was usually enough time for the sentry to take a bathroom break, or grab a bite to eat if a meal was prepared while they were on shift. For the most part though, they ate on post. The guards weren’t the only ones with runners. Annette and Patricia would usually grab the first person to be done at mealtime and have them take a to-go plate (Tupperware) out to each post.

 

It worked for them as the farms residents settled into their routine by the end of the first week. When the rest of their group returned from the compound in town after the first month, they could readjust the schedules a bit and give people days off of guard duty. There would still be work to get done around the farm, but they’d get a reprieve from long hours alone on top of a container.

 

The families worked around the shifts, and Maggie and Glenn had made sure the parents weren’t scheduled together. With the exception of Rick and Daryl who’d chosen to stay on third watch together, each parent was allowed to select the shift that worked best for them. Merle was on first watch anyway, and spent the first month sleeping on Rick and Daryl’s couch to be in the cabin for the baby.

 

The baby had a name after three days of being at the farm, Caroline. Chosen by Daryl. The story of that particular naming was different depending on who told it.

 

If Carl was asked, he would say that the baby was named after him. Get it? _Carl…CARoLine…_ If any of the other original crew were asked, they would probably tell hushed stories about Carol. A badass survivor, and the first real friend Daryl had ever had.

 

On the other hand, if Annette was asked… she’d tell the story of how she burst into the cabin on day three of the Caroline being on the farm and insisted Daryl help her decorate the baby’s new room. There was a can of soft lavender paint left over from when Beth had wanted her own room painted, and Annette had fabric for curtains, he just needed to select the one he wanted. While Daryl painted and Annette sewed, oldies music blasted from the small cd player the woman had brought with her.

 

Annette would swear up and down that as soon as the chorus for “Sweet Caroline” came on Daryl stopped what he was doing and stood still for the next few minutes with a bemused smile on his face as he listened until it was over.

 

And that was how Annette claimed the credit for her new granddaughter’s name. If Daryl was ever around when she told that story, he would just smile and look down, but he never corrected her.

 

If he was honest, which he only was about this with Rick, it was probably a mix of all three. He’d been thinking about names for days, and none of the ones he came up with for her really _worked._ When he heard the song, he knew it was right. It just took him a few minutes to figure out why.

 

It was also on the third day that Merle and Guillermo helped name Havoc. Rick had taken Caroline and Carl down to the water to play as Daryl and Annette worked on decorating the new room. When the two men stopped by to see how things were going, and if they needed any help putting together the extra IKEA dresser Rick had brought up from storage, Daryl asked if they’d seen the dog outside.

 

Guillermo laughed and told him to look out the front door. Wanting a cigarette break anyway (relax, he already promised Annette he wouldn’t smoke around the baby) they grabbed a few waters from the fridge and stepped onto the porch. “God dammit,” Daryl sighed halfheartedly as he lit the cigarette.

 

Down by the water the dog was chasing ducks again as Rick and Carl looked on. “He’s been down there since we came up the drive,” Guillermo told him with an amused tone. “Wreaking havoc with the ducks.”

 

Merle, as he did from time to time, recited a quote from literature while he grinned as the dog’s tenacity led him to gallop straight into the water, fully submerged. It was Shakespeare this time. “Cry Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war.”

 

Daryl just huffed out a breath and shook his head. “Havoc,” he mused. “Sounds ‘bout right.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

While the farm settled in, they kept up with the Sheriff’s team using the same walkie-talkie set up from the first night of the outbreak. The group in town was seeing _a lot_ more action than the farm. No herds yet, but the walkers tended to gather in groups of about a dozen when they approached the fence. They were able to pick them off pretty easily from the containers, and only opened the gates when the piles of bodies needed to be cleared away.

 

Week one was pretty tough for the compound, the walkers just seemed to keep coming. And the sounds from the rifles as they took them down probably didn’t help matters either.

 

Apart from a few surviving firefighters that found their way back, and one EMS worker who’d been inside the gates during the outbreak, none of the other first responders were with them. There’d been four deputies inside with them when everything started. But they all had family and had insisted on heading out to get them. Sheriff Crowe had armed them and sent each of them off with a squad car. None had returned by the end of the first week.

 

They had two guards on top of the containers set up on either side of the gate at all times. Watching. And waiting. But no survivors came their way. To say it was depressing would be an understatement.

 

Kyle didn’t say why, but on one evening towards the end of the week he shrugged off Andy, one of the firefighters who came to relieve his shift and said he’d stay where he was.

 

Aaron confronted him about it the next morning when Kyle huddled down into an empty bunk to get some sleep. Apparently, that had been the day and night they all died the last time. He’d told Aaron the story of the two girls before, and he’d been sure he would be able to save them this time.

 

But it hadn’t worked out that way. Aaron stayed with him until he fell asleep, and after getting Eric to promise to force the man to eat when he woke up, he left for his own shift on the containers.

 

By the third week the crew at the compound had become a cohesive unit. The three firefighters, Andy, Jason, and another Andy who just went by Moss were all early twenties with no families. Well, except for Jason’s parents.

 

Jason and Moss had been out with friends downtown when everything hit. Seeing the chaos around them at just after midnight, they had made their way to Jason’s parents’ house. The sight of his father and mother torn open in the drive would be with him for the rest of his life. What they were doing outside that late at night he’ll never know.

 

For all he was trained to be in emergency situations, and he’d been on some gruesome scenes, that sight had him shutting down to the point where Moss had to drag him back to the truck, away from his father-turned-walker and speed them to the station. He didn’t talk for two days.

 

Simon, the EMS tech was in his early forties and had no family to lure him away from the compound. He and Leslie set up a rotating shift where one would sleep while the other was awake in case the group had any injuries that needed treating.

 

It wasn’t until they had just under a week left that the first big thing happened. That is, if walkers no longer counted as big things.

 

The streets were empty, and had been empty for a few days now. Occasionally they would get a walker, or a cluster of walkers, that they would pick off. But otherwise not much. They’d switched to the silencers after week two. The Sheriff had said the noise from the rifles would be good at first to get as many of them around to take out, but had wanted a stealthier approach to their survival later on.

 

The sound of cars was the first thing Aaron noticed from his spot on the container. Sheriff Crowe was up on the other container, and a quick look told him that the older man had heard it too. This was what the Sheriff had warned them about, it was why he didn’t want to announce their presence.

 

Some of the group who had survived longer the first time had sat down with the Sheriff one night to go over their experiences. He was interested in the walkers’ behavior, but was more interested in the humans. Rick had told him everything. From the good to the bad, to the worst.

 

It was still early, but there was no telling which people might have remembered, or what they might decide to do. A Sheriff’s station would be a good place to try and raid, especially one that had its own medical unit.

 

As the sound of the cars got closer, Aaron radioed in to the group to be on point, and he and the Sheriff got in position with their rifles. When the first car of the convoy got closer, Aaron heard an amazed “Oh my god, that crazy son of a bitch.” He looked over at the Sheriff in time to see the man slinging the rifle over his shoulder and climbing down the container. “Open the gates!”

 

Kyle came running out from the building and helped the Sheriff swing the gates open as a squad car, a military Humvee, an SUV, and a prisoner transport van drove into the lot. After quickly securing the gate, the grinning Sheriff started to make his way over to the vehicles just as their occupants were getting out.  

 

A man looking to be in his late forties, early fifties, similar to Sheriff Crowe met him with a matching grin and a giant bear hug. As it happens, Dane Crowe was not the only Sheriff in town anymore.

 

Sheriff Anders from King County introduced them to the two of his deputies and their families who had survived with him. Keith, a football player looking man had two children with him, twin boys just five years old. Sam, around Rick’s height and build, had brought his wife along with their son and daughter. Sam had driven the families in the van, while the Anders and Keith both brought their department’s two K-9 units in the squad car and Humvee.

 

The families were a welcome sight to the small group of survivors who had all come out to greet the new arrivals, but it wasn’t what had Aaron abandoning his post. The family who exited the SUV was.

 

Watching the woman and boy get out of the passenger side was good, another child saved, but when the driver came around the hood, and Aaron heard Eric shout in happiness, he quickly made his way down.

 

Morgan looked the same as he ever did at first glance. Calm, understanding. But there were little differences too. Eric seemed happy to see him and meet Jenny and Duane. And Aaron was too.

 

But he needed to know if this was the killer Morgan hell-bent on destruction. Or the pacifist who refused to kill. Or was it the man that Rick had told him he first met after just waking up from a coma. Basically, was the man insane or not?

 

Morgan noticed his apprehension and offered to take post with Aaron after he saw his family settled. But Kyle took his rifle and climbed up the container, saying he’d take the watch by himself and let the friends catch up. Aaron would have refused, but Kyle’s face had the most relaxed and peaceful look Aaron had seen all month.

 

The rest of the group made their way inside and Anders set about sharing their experience while Andy dished up some food for the survivors. It was close to mealtime anyway, so they all tucked into a plate while they talked. It didn’t appear the King County crew remembered, and none of the group who did felt the need to share that bit of info.

 

The military had come to town, and tried to take over once things started getting sketchy. About a week after the outbreak, they started shooting up the place.

 

Morgan and his family had shown up the day of the outbreak asking to speak to Deputy Grimes. After the first walker made it in the station not more than ten minutes after he got there, Morgan was more than a little helpful in keeping the threat out of the building.

 

The military had come to clear the building but had been overrun by walkers before they made it inside. What was left of them anyway. Morgan had set up on the roof with Keith and two sniper rifles to stop the soldiers in their tracks. They’d already seen these men gun down other survivors and weren’t about to let that happen with their families.

 

Deciding the near-miss attack was too much of a close call, they packed up the weapons, grabbed the food and the K-9s and packed the survivors into the vehicles, _acquiring_ one of the Humvees on their way out.

 

They holed up at Anders’ house for a couple weeks. It was secured by a fence, although that wouldn’t stand up to a group of walkers if they wanted in. But it had a storm shelter if things got bad. Morgan worked on clearing the nearby area of walkers one by one, but never strayed too far.

 

Close to the end of the second week at the house, Anders was talking over the possibility of others having survived with Morgan. He mentioned the high-speed prison fence his friend Dane Crowe was putting up around the station down in Greene County and how that would be fantastic if they had something like that. And hey, didn’t Morgan say he was looking for Rick Grimes, well he’s down in Greene County helping out.

 

They were on the road by the next morning.

 

Pulling Morgan aside after the meal was finished, Aaron and he did have a talk. He was happy that he seemed a changed man with his family safe by his side, and Morgan wasn’t offended when Aaron said he trusted the man, but would be watching him for a while. It would take time. Morgan was a good man… but he’d also been a little crazy too.

 

For now, they had survivors and less than a week to go before heading out of town. He grabbed a walkie-talkie on his way back to Kyle and switched over to the farm channel. He needed to talk to Rick.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised more familiar faces... and here you go!

The rejoining of the groups was a happy event for the farm’s residents. Add in the new additions from King County and most of the community decided they needed to have a celebration meal the night of their arrival, since some of the community couldn't be there to welcome them back.

 

They had come in a convoy of vehicles close to the end of the first guard shift of the day. Rick and Daryl were taking the day to crash, having become more nocturnal as the month had progressed. Their normal routine had become:

 

1) Start shift at 11 pm.

2) Grab breakfast when shift is over at 7 am.

3) One stays later to trade places with Merle when they change over, one goes back to the cabin to be with Caroline.

4) Spend time with Caroline and Carl, walk dog.

5) Babysitter or Merle takes Caroline after lunch.

6) Pass out in cabin, now empty and quiet.

7) Wake up for dinner. Spend time with family.

8) Leave Merle sleeping on the couch.

9) Start shift at 11 pm.

 

The days had continued on repeat for everyone that first month, but on this particular day, the two men had been up longer due to a planning meeting Maggie held the day before. The meeting had come right in the middle of their rest time, and by the time they got back to the cabin that morning and grabbed a quick bite with Carl, they were dead on their feet. Each of the community members had their own routines, but there were little deviations. Mostly they got in the family time when they could.

 

Hershel and Maggie sat down with Otis during a meal one day to get the schedule sorted for farm work. They would really need to focus on that in the future, but no one had much time at first. They needed to get the kennel set up for the K-9 units coming in with the Sheriff's crew, but they had selected the second Apartment in the meantime. It was empty and unfurnished for the most part, and the ground level rooms all had concrete flooring.

 

It wouldn’t work forever, they’d need the space. But until they could raid some more materials for the new structure, and all the other structures they had going up, it would do. They had also sat on the radio with the group at the compound to sort the housing arrangements before they arrived. The three families coming in each wanted to move into a cabin, and the remaining five men would move into the Main Apartment building.

 

With the new arrivals, the Main Apartment had thirteen occupants, and they would be using a total of fourteen cabins. And while the group had furnished the Main Apartment, the Nursing Home, and ten of the cabins, that still left four cabins that needed to be set up. Everyone pitched in and got the extra four set up with any dressers, cots or mattresses from storage, but they knew they’d need to gather more furnishings. Was it a luxury in the middle of the apocalypse? Sure. And Merle voiced his thoughts at dinner one night when it was just him and his brother’s family (Rick, Carl and Caroline).

 

Carl, surprisingly was the one to casually remind Merle that he’d come into the Apartment the other day after helping Seth with Havoc’s training only to find the man on the couch with David as the two men shouted at the television while playing Call of Duty.

 

Rick grinned across the table at the man’s sputtering about how he was working on his desensitization for the walkers. The debate devolved from there into their claims about all the ‘luxuries’ they could live without if they wanted to. Daryl told them it was no wonder the two spent so much time together, saying “yall bicker like a pair of five year olds anyway.”

 

They all knew they could do without the home furnishings, and the electricity, and running water, and the septic system… they’d had to before. But they had it now. And even an ‘outdoor cat’ like Daryl could appreciate what they had on the farm. He and Merle were living better than they had for most of their lives. Hell, he had a cabin and a family of his own. This was a damn step up in his book.

 

He’d talked about it with Rick one day, when they were blocking the light from the windows so they could try and get their rest before they had to wake up for the evenings meal and guard shift. They found the time for each other when they could, and lately it was when they were settling down for sleep. Rick had gotten up from the bed to pull on a pair of sleep pants and close the heavy drapes before climbing back in and settling behind the hunter.

 

“I never felt right when we were in Alexandria,” Daryl had told him. “The people there were stupid ’bout everything.” He brought Rick’s hand up to rest by his face when he’d slid an arm over Daryl’s side, pulling him in a little tighter. “S’like they thought if they just stayed in their fancy homes and never saw what was outside the walls, nothing bad was gonna happen. Stupid.”

 

Rick hummed in agreement and closed his eyes as he listened, relaxing into the soft mattress and light blanket.

 

“I couldn’t stand it.” Daryl continued. “Wanted to be gone, away from them. An’ they didn’t like me neither.” He let out a long sigh, becoming more relaxed himself and ready to pass out any minute, his words softening with sleep. “S’not like that here. These people are ready. They’ll fight, ev’n the ones that ain’t never seen a walker ‘fore.”

 

He was dropping off and Rick rubbed gentle circles into his hand as Daryl said “These’re our people, ya know…” He was out before Rick could respond.

 

The rest of the community, though Rick never asked, seemed to be on the same page as Daryl. There were a lot of people on the farm now, but they somehow managed to keep up to date with each other. Old friendships deepening, and new friendships starting during gatherings. Annette and Patricia held all meals at the picnic tables off the right side of the main house, and they always had the majority of people show up when they weren’t on duty.

 

The conversations over food helped them settle in with each other, but it was also a time to set up some new routines. For example, Anders had been a Gunny in the Marine Corps. When Lance Corporal Seth Markle (just Seth now) learned this the two quickly fell into stories of their military days and some of the shenanigans they got up to. It was lighthearted but also productive. The two brought up the idea of field day for the Main Apartment, and it quickly caught on with group.

 

The stories they told of the fun their fireteams had while getting the otherwise tedious chore of _cleaning_ done were laughed at by all. It was a good way to build teamwork and morale. And also necessary with thirteen people living in the building.

 

Anders also sat down with Rick for a few more private conversations. The top item being Shane. He’d been on duty when everything happened, and had left the station to collect Lori, but Anders hadn’t seen him again. He said he knew that she was Rick’s ex now, and he’d seen that the former deputy had seemingly moved on with his ‘new man’, but he thought he’d might like to know. Her being the boy’s mother and all.

 

Rick talked it over with Carl, and he confirmed that Shane had been in uniform when he came to collect them from the house last time too. The crowd of walkers had blocked the street off that led to the station, so Shane had made the quick call to just get them out of town.

 

This sparked numerous conversations between Rick and Daryl where he told the man that he wanted to go back. To check the house and see if they’d at least made it out. By the second week after the groups joined, Rick was adamant that he’d be headed that way.

 

Maggie had already made plans for a team to head out to a large lumber yard about halfway between the two points. It wasn’t the first thing she had on her list, but it was near enough to the top to be adjusted.

 

The plan was for a team of five to head out in the Humvee and U-Haul for King County. The team would make a stop at Rick’s old house to check for Lori first. If she was there, and Shane was with her, they would both come back with the group. Rick had no love for the idea of bringing Shane back, and Merle and Daryl both voiced their distaste for the plan. But they also knew that it would be the best way to convince Lori to come with them and avoid any damaging resentment from her in the future. Hell, he’d share Judith if that’s what it took.

 

From the house, they would hit up the Sheriff’s station for the spotlights Anders told them would be handy on the guard towers. They hadn’t planned on having electricity in the towers, but Glenn and Tyler told them they could do the wiring if they could get some smaller generators, and of course the wires. And then also the propane.

 

The propane they had down, Crowe had noticed a few propane trucks in the truck stop on the edge of town while they were headed to the farm. If they were still there, a team could head out in one of the U-Hauls and grab them. Also hit up the convenience store the lot had for any supplies they could find. It wasn’t in their original plans, but those propane trucks would be too good to pass up.

 

They had decided only one team out at a time though, so they’d have to wait until the King County team made it back.

 

Rick’s team was also planning on making a stop at the military supply store on the way out of town. Maggie reminded them of the lumber they still needed and that the U-Haul wouldn’t have room for everything.

 

“Don’t lumber yards have those big flatbeds?” Glenn brought up, which secured Mike’s placement on the team. While being a craftsman, he’d also done some construction work for a builder and was the only one with firsthand experience driving a truck that big. Glenn and Tyler both joined the team provided they stop at the hardware store in town.

 

Rick and Anders both remember the wiring and tools they needed being at the store, though they had no idea how much as they’d never had a need for it. Tyler told them that the two of them would know what to look for. They could handle a couple walkers, and would have the rest of the team for backup while they gathered supplies.  

 

Seth was on already on the team Merle was putting together for the propane trucks in town, as were Maggie, Hank and Kyle.

 

Daryl wasn’t about to have Rick taking off for a long haul alone, but was quickly redirected to let Aaron take his place when Rick brought up Carl and Caroline. If, god forbid, something happened he didn’t want the kids left alone. Daryl had some words for Rick that night about them being a team and that they were supposed to do this together.

 

Rick promised it wasn’t a split up forever, but with it being this soon after everything fell, the walkers would be faster and stronger, decomposition not having enough time yet to break down their bodies.

 

He didn’t like it, but he understood.

 

Merle mentioned that since the group for King County was planning on leaving the next morning, and it was still early in the day, he could take his team now for the propane. They were ready, and it would give them an idea of what the roads looked like before the long-haul team left. They were staying off the main highways and interstates, and the roads were clear when the crew from the town had come in, but they’d have Kyle with them to see if anything had changed.

 

It was a good plan, and within an hour, they had taken one of the U-Hauls out the gates. Ember had stayed behind since Seth was one of the planned drivers for the propane and he didn’t want to waste seconds if the doors were too high for her to jump unassisted. She was a smart dog and could handle a jump like that. He knew it. But he didn’t want to get into the pain he’d felt at watching her go down the last time. So the jumping was the story he went with.

 

It ended up taking a lot less time than they thought. _A lot less_. The small crew returned within the hour with the original U-Haul and three propane trucks. The trucks were parked along the southwest perimeter of the fence, while the U-Haul was unloaded at the Storage building and parked back in the Garage lot. The on shift runner picked up the drivers from along the perimeter road and Garage, and brought the team back up for a debrief.

 

Kyle said there’d been no changes, the roads had looked untouched and the convenience store on the lot had been intact when they’d arrived. There were a few walkers at the truck stop when they got there, one which Merle swore up and down “just _had_ to’ve been a damn lot lizard” and the team had cleared them out without a fuss. They hadn’t seen any groupings over four or five. They did pass a couple on the way back though, closer to the farm. Maggie and Merle had taken care of them from the cab of the U-Haul when they stopped the convoy after spotting them on the side of the road.

 

All in all though, pretty uneventful. Daryl felt a little better after hearing their success, and was hopeful Rick’s team would have the same luck.

 

The schedule was altered to fill in the guard shifts the King County team would be missing, but Daryl still had that night and the next morning off. He was quiet while Rick slept, the man having accepted a sleeping pill from Terry to get his body to fall asleep out of cycle, and spent the evening watching him. He tried to doze off a few times, and was extremely comfortable laying in the bed with Rick, but his mind wouldn’t let him sleep. This would be the first time they were away from each other after the outbreak.

 

The next morning saw the crew preparing for their trip, the rest of the community having gathered across the farm at the East Gate to see them off. Rick pulled Carl aside and told him to keep an eye on Daryl, that he was going to need his help at the house today. The hunter heard, of course, and let out a scoff while rolling his eyes. They had already said good bye back in the cabin while Merle and Carl waited with Caroline on the porch. Daryl didn’t see the need for a public showing and nodded to Rick as he gave the man’s arm a light punch.

 

Rick smiled back, knowing this was the extent of Daryl’s comfort zone today.  

 

The roads were as clear as the earlier team reported, but it was backroads the whole way and it was at least three hours before they made it to the town limits. Rick was in the lead with the Humvee and navigated the vehicles to his old house.

 

He found it much the same as before, pictures and clothes missing. Glenn handed him one of the duffels he’d brought and they made their way upstairs to clear out Carl’s room and anything that might be left of his own things. The team on the ground floor cleared the furniture they could and loaded it all into the U-Haul. The duffels went in the Humvee and they were on their way to the station.

 

Which is where things were different from last time. He remembered he’d been by the station earlier in the first timeline, and for whatever reason, he thought it was going to look exactly the same this time too.

 

Instead, as they rolled down the street they saw there was a large RV that might have looked almost military like in its metal design if it weren’t for the shaded horses sanded on the side. He pulled the vehicles off to the side of the road about two blocks from the station, hoping whoever was inside hadn’t seen their approach.

 

They waited for near an hour before they saw the first sign of the occupants. A woman with long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, a ball cap, a tank top and shorts with a rifle slung across her chest came out from the building headed for the RV. Rick squinted at the figure.

 

She glanced around doing an area check. Rick and Glenn scooted down in their seats right before she looked their way, but she stopped when she noticed the Humvee. They were too far for her to make out if the vehicle had any passengers, but they saw her say something to whoever she still had inside. Another man, maybe the same age, maybe a little younger, came out of the building with a carton of supplies and got into their ride.

 

When the third man in their group came out the doors of the station, Rick started the Humvee back up and started driving forwards, only stopping when the new man fired a shot in warning at their approach. Glenn didn’t let that deter him and shot out of his seat to make the rest of the way on foot. The woman, who had taken aim next to the larger man with a bright red head of hair dropped the rifle to her side and shouted “Glenn?!” as she ran forward.

 

“Well I’ll be a damn priest on a pogo stick.” Abe said to the empty space beside him as he moved forward to greet the vehicles, now moving again.

 

Rick came to a stop a few feet from the RV and got out to grab Abe in a big hug, with Aaron soon coming over for one of his own. They made introductions quickly, wanting to be off the road just in case there was a group of walkers coming by.

 

Abe told them it was pretty fortuitous they came by because their group of three had been packing up to leave.

 

When Abe first woke up he knew without a doubt nothing had been a dream. Not having any family of his own, he made quick work tracking Rosita down.

 

Rosita and her brother, Milo had been in El Paso, Texas when she got the call. She was stationed on the Army base there, and while she knew it might mean being declared AWOL, she had also remembered everything.

 

So when Abe called, she got Milo to help her pack up the things they would need, put in a request for as much leave as she had to avoid suspicion (it wasn’t enough to get her to W-Day, but it would be enough to get her out of town), and waited for Abe to make his way to them.

 

From there they traveled north to Colorado. Rosita and Milo had family out in California, but they hadn’t spoken to them since their parents died and none of the family could be bothered to help out a freshly turned 18 year old with a 12 year old little brother. Milo was sixteen now, but Rosita had basically raised him for the last four years on her own. She’d joined the Army to be able to provide a home for them and get guardianship.

 

So the thought of tracking down her family was not in the forefront of her mind. Online research for a suitable method of transportation was.

 

When Abe arrived, they decided they wanted to track down Rick and made the call out to the number they’d found for the only Rick Grimes living in King County, GA. It was the only information they had on him, and it was enough. The woman who’d answered the phone didn’t seem too friendly, and smarted off about Rick spending the summer with his girlfriend Maggie.

 

Putting Rick and Maggie in the same sentence set off flashing lights for them and Abe immediately asked her if Rick was still a deputy at the local Sheriff’s station, and if it wouldn’t be too much trouble to get the address of that station and his phone number. The one they found to his cell wasn’t going through and this house phone they found in the listings was all they had. He knew it sounded sketchy, but surprisingly the woman didn’t sound suspicious. She rattled the address off from memory and told them he gets shitty reception where he’s at.

 

They plugged it into the google and printed off a paper copy of the directions and headed north. Rosita had found a Mercedes-Benz Zetros RV from a private seller up in Colorado Springs. Neither she nor Abe had the money to buy it, but they met with the seller and staked out his house for a couple weeks. There were other RV’s sure, but this one came with everything they needed to survive and was built with off-road capabilities. Plus, it was a Mercedes, used diesel and would probably last them a hell of a lot longer than anything else.

 

On the last day before the outbreak, they noticed a walker while in town for a supply run and a shower stop at the motel they’d left Milo in. They immediately gathered Milo from the room and hauled ass back to the seller’s house. As soon as they saw the man leaving that evening, they broke in.

 

Much to Milos’s dismay as he panicked when the security alarm was triggered. Not knowing there were walkers coming, the teenager thought his sister and her new, strange boyfriend were committing a B&E and had them living in a motel, WTF?

 

They grabbed the keys from the hook they’d spotted in the garage and quickly moved all of their supplies, and a distraught Milo who was shouting about grand theft auto, into the RV. They sped off for the nearest gas station where they filled the vehicle and the fifteen gas cans they’d purchased, and got the hell out of dodge.

 

Like Rick’s group, they knew to stay off the major highways wherever possible. They’d come across some tense situations when their route took them by the larger towns, and they were low on firepower until they raided an overrun military convoy, but they kept up a steady pace. The backroads had definitely added days to their trip and they hadn’t made it into town until about three weeks ago. Right after Anders would have left with his group.

 

They waited for Rick, checked out the town nearby and raided a couple houses for food. But with the third week of their wait ending, and Rick still not showing up, they decided to move on.

 

It was by a sheer stroke of luck that Rick had come up on them when he had, they would’ve been gone in another five minutes. Rick explained that they’d been watching the place for the last hour so no they wouldn’t have. Which had Abe rolling, but they all had a look in their eyes that acknowledged just how close they’d come to missing each other.

 

Glenn reminded the group of the schedule, and that they wanted to be back by tonight, but they recognized that wasn’t going to happen. The radios didn’t work this far away from the farm and Rick could only hope Daryl didn’t flip his shit when they realized the group was delayed.

 

Abe and Rosita helped them move the spotlights into the U-Haul and the team, now three men bigger moved into town to raid the stores there. Really, it was only two men bigger. Milo, while brave for a sixteen year old was always more into books than sports. As such, he was not the most athletic boy and had never fired a weapon. Abe had taken him on some light ‘clears’ but he still wasn’t comfortable.

 

Glenn told him he was that way at first too, and there was nothing wrong with being the guy who could get in and out undetected. Milo seemed to be happy for the praise and Glenn had told the boy to shadow him for the rest of the trip. He was already small, now he just needed to learn to be quick and quiet.

 

The main street of the small town had the hardware store, which they emptied of everything that looked useful, including three large tool cabinets on wheels and all of the tools they could find. There was probably more in the back, but when Glenn and Tyler hit pay dirt in the wiring section they loaded the supplies they needed from the front of the store and made a note to come back as the schedules permitted.

 

Aaron and Mike had spotted a bakery two stores down that they insisted on checking out after Rick told them it was run by some health nut and how Lori always raved about the food being so much better. All Rick knew was that it cost three times the price of what they could get at a normal store.

 

Aaron had worked in third world countries where the people lived off of what the land could provide. They didn’t go to the store when they needed flour, they made it themselves. It wasn’t hard, you just needed to harvest the wheat, clean it, and grind it up. A coffee grinder would do the job. But Aaron had an idea.

 

Sure enough, the group found two high-speed stone burr grain mills designed for commercial duty. They loaded them in the truck and headed back to the station. The place was as good as any to set up camp for the night.

 

They hit the lumber yard first thing in the morning, having left town as the sun was coming up. The yard was still fenced in with a chain link fence, flimsy to those who had been on the farm behind the Armaweave, but it had a significantly higher number of walkers inside than they’d come across so far. Glenn and Abe came up with the plan, and they opened the fence before jumping back in the Humvee to let the walkers swarm the vehicles.

 

Slowly, slowly, slowly, they backed up until they had most if not all of the visible walkers far enough away from the yard. Then they floored it back into the fence, with Glenn and Abe dumping out to shut the gates after the RV.

 

They took a little time, not too much, but seriously it was hours moving the lumber onto the giant flatbed that they were stealing. Was it really stealing though if the owner was probably already a walker?

 

The rest of the morning, and a good chunk of the day was spent loading their haul. Glenn, Rosita, and Milo took watch on the fence for security. They’d found a few walkers inside the warehouse, but those were handled in seconds. They'd found some more tools and equipment that would be good to haul back, but the U-Haul had been filled on their way to the lumber yard when they stopped at the military supply store.

 

The truck was pretty large, and they'd practically emptied the place of everything it had. Most of it would be easily put to use, but everything meant everything. They found a ton of crossbow and compound bows that would be put to use, blankets, winter weather gear, and a bunch of other things that they didn't immediately know the use for, but figured someone would.

 

It took just over an hour to empty the place, longer at the lumber yard, and a tedious drive back to the farm. They'd had to stick to a slower pace to make sure Mike in the back truck was okay with the flatbed. The good news is that they had loaded two of the forklifts they'd found. It was two less than they'd need to grab at the distro center when that trip was planned.

 

Daryl being pissed when they got back was selling things a little short. He was livid, and refused to speak to anyone as he helped unload their vehicles. He was of course happy to see Abe and Rosita, but didn’t manage more than a nod and a friendly pat in greeting. Not even when Rick showed him the new tool cabinets for the Garage.

 

Merle took Caroline and Havoc down to the apartment to spend the night as Abe, Rosita, and Milo got set up in a cabin. Milo would later move down to the Main Apartment, but for now, Rosita wanted him close.

 

It took two hours after a silent bedtime routine for Daryl to turn over to Rick, who was definitely still awake, and pull the man in so he could hold him. He still didn’t talk beyond curses and an occasional “you fucker”, but it was said with enough emotion and heart that Rick knew they’d be okay. He apologized. Again. And held tighter every time Daryl called him whatever explicative came to mind.

 

When he woke up, it was to Daryl holding just as tight, but lost to dreams. Rick hoped they were pleasant if the peaceful look on the man’s face was anything to go by.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little chapter from the writing muses. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> P.S. Let me know if you find typos... I looked this over sooooo many times, but they always seem to find a way through...

Maggie had a list. Maggie had a lot of lists, actually. Her father had smiled at her and said he always knew she was a natural leader when they sat down to talk about ‘the rest of the story’ after they woke up that first day. In her mind, leaders were organized. They made lists.

 

The two had spent hours after the call to Rick going over everything Hershel had missed out on. It was actually during one of those talks, walking the length of the pastures that Maggie first considered the idea that maybe they didn’t have to leave at all. At the time, they had no idea they would have access to all of the funding for the reconstruction, but Maggie had talked about Alexandria and Hilltop, and how they’d been able to fence the places in.

 

Her original plan would have meant construction of the fences after the walkers first started, there would’ve been no way to have them done in time with the few people they had helping. And they wouldn’t have been able to save so much of the land.

 

Once Sheriff Crowe entered the picture, Maggie discarded her original plans. But she kept them all in stacks of composition books that she still had in her and Glenn’s cabin.

 

From day one, Maggie had started writing. She’d taken one of Beth’s comp. books she hadn’t needed for the previous schoolyear and got started. By the end of the first day, she’d driven into town to purchase a case of them.

 

Glenn preferred the computer. After his arrival, the two would often sit together during the construction with Maggie going over her notes, and Glenn typing up a finished version of the plans for the group. It was important to stay on task, and her time with Deanna taught her that people felt more comfortable when they knew someone was dedicating themselves to managing those tasks. People worked better with schedules, when they knew what to expect.

 

So that’s what Maggie became. The Farm Manager.

 

Her records included everything under the sun. She kept the census and tracked the living arrangements of the farms occupants, the schedules for guard duty, the jobs needing manned around the farm and who would take primary responsibility for those jobs as well as any apprentices they had. She also kept an inventory of the items in storage, as well as weapons, food, pharmacy, and medical supplies.

 

She also planned kept the list of raids. She planned out when they needed to happen, and who would be on each team. The people from the core group were typically selected as team leads, but Hank and Mike were both capable additions and could each lead their own team if needed.

 

The impromptu trip to King County and the truck stop were great additions, and she could be flexible when needed. But the scheduling of farm maintenance and raids was a careful balance if she didn’t want either stack of cards to tumble.

 

After the King County crew returned with their old friends in tow, she had two more bodies to put to work. It was a terribly clinical way of looking at it, but Maggie was grateful for additional support.

 

Speaking of support, Glenn was needed elsewhere. He and Tyler were their electrician experts, though neither had really needed to know about that world before the walkers, and were tasked with ensuring the farm’s power stayed on. They were also often selected for raids.

 

Glenn’s absence meant there was a serious limit to what Maggie could keep track of on any given day. Which is where Selia came in. Selia was part of the group Guillermo had brought with him. She and her husband Caesar had two children Caesar Jr (6 yrs) and Gabriel (2 yrs), and lived in the cabin right next door to Maggie and Glenn.

 

In the mornings, Caesar would take the children to the main house where the daycare/school were set up, while Selia and Maggie would start their day of farm management. After having her support for three days, Maggie didn’t know how she’d managed without her before.

 

Selia commandeered Glenn’s tablet, and quickly transferred Maggie’s notes and hand written lists over to excel spreadsheets. Everything got backed up to a hard drive at the end of the day, and Maggie still jotted her notes down in her comp. books, but Selia always brought that tablet with them on their rounds.

 

The raids were planned to start in the second month, which they did, and continue on a regular frequency until the nearby resources, nearby being anything in a 2 hour radius, had been depleted. After that, the trips would require a longer haul and would happen less often.

 

Glenn and Tyler were excited to get started on the work for the guard towers, which had fully set now and were in use. Merle and Guillermo had been selected to work with them since they were the only other two residents who knew much about electrical wiring.

 

The lumber was being put to use at the Garden & Farm Center, as well as the Laundromat to get those structures up as soon as possible. Rick and Hank took the lead on that, with Morgan, Andy, Daryl, Kyle, and Jason joining the crew.

 

The addition of the flatbed, and the haul from the lumber yard, as well as the electric work and construction changed things a bit from the Maggie’s earlier plans. Also, the overwhelming request from the rest of the farm that only one team left at a time forced her and Selia to develop contingencies to keep them on track.

 

Michonne and Abe were the new team leads that would take point on the raids for now, and picked their teams from those not already tasked with other duties.

 

The town raids were accomplished quickly. They still had the maps of the town, as well as Rick’s old town from their earlier days, and divided the commercial blocks up between Team 1 and Team 2. The town was not altogether large, and the big chain stores were in the next town over, so the teams were able to complete one trip a day alternating between Abe and Michonne.

 

Each team took three U-Hauls and returned with the same number, and three semis until the truck stop was empty. It usually took all day, and they stayed in contact using the radios. They hadn’t seen anything like the herds from before, and Hershel commented one day that it might take time for the larger numbers of walkers to come this far away from the more densely populated areas.

 

It was toward the end of the first week when Daryl joined Michonne’s crew to help out after Caesar had twisted his ankle. They were hitting the last section of the commercial street this time. Including the bar. Some of the people on the farm had mentioned it would be nice to have a beer with dinner every now and then, so the plan was to include the bar on their raid in that vector.

 

But Michonne stopped the trucks almost immediately after turning onto the downtown street. The other three drivers came to a quick halt, but didn’t radio in just yet. They knew she wouldn’t stop them for walkers, and were giving her time to give them their orders. If she stopped them, something wasn’t right.

 

Moss, riding shotgun in the second truck saw Daryl quietly exit Michonne’s U-Haul and move at a quick pace up the alley way behind the row of stores along the road.

 

“There’s a new car on the street. Sitting in front of the bar.” Michonne said over the radio. “Daryl’s scouting ahead. David, you and Moss turn off the truck and come to me. Don’t make any noise.” She was talking quietly but firmly, and the others stayed silent to listen. This was the first time they’d come across any other survivors and they’d all had enough horror stories to last them a lifetime.

 

“Aaron, you and Seth drive back a block,” she continued. “Cut over until you can get to the other side of that bar without being seen. Sit behind it and wait for direction.”

 

Aaron watched David and Moss both climb out the driver’s side and make their way up to Michonne before backing up and looking for an alternate route. Before making their turn, Seth watched Michonne, David and Moss walk out into the intersection and make their way right, headed for the bar.

 

They were halfway across the street when Daryl came over the radio that he was in position on a roof overlooking the bar. “Got a bad feeling, don’t go inside,” he told them. “Wait till they come to you. And switch off the radio. Aaron you there?”

 

“Yeah, I hear you,” Aaron said back. He was keeping his voice hushed even though he told Daryl that he and Seth were still pulling up one street back from the bar. They’d make their way on foot from there.

 

Watching from his perch, Daryl tightened his grip as three men came out to the porch. Two of them were clearly inebriated, still had their bottles in their hands, and he noticed they had the same sway to their walk that Merle sometimes got when he was wasted. One was a fairly hefty guy, the other was about matched in size as Daryl was now. Both looked wrong somehow.

 

The third man was the one talking though. Daryl couldn’t hear what he said, but something about him screamed _WRONG._

 

It wasn’t until two more men joined them from the bar that Daryl knew why. The first man to join his buddies on the porch looked much like the others. Normal at first, but just something that pinged around in Daryl’s head as bad, bad, bad. The fifth man sealed the deal though. Daryl immediately radioed in to Aaron that there were five out front, they were bad, and to let him know when they could make their way around to flank Michonne and her group from the right.

 

The fifth man was young and looked harmless at first. But he had that same head of dark hair and fake expression as the last time Daryl saw him. Alive at least.

 

He knew Michonne and her crew would get no warning, so they would have to be quick, but as soon as he heard Seth come on the line, he knew what needed to be done. “Up high, on your right,” Seth said. “I’ll start with the ones closest to me, you get the other side.”

 

Daryl glanced to his right, and sure enough he saw Aaron behind a row of cars, with Seth up on the roof behind him. The men below were still talking to Michonne and the others, gesturing for them to join them inside. It had to be now. “In three,” he said into the radio before dropping it to the roof and taking aim.

 

Daryl took down the large man closest to Moss, reloaded and took aim again, but Seth had already cleared out the other four. Damn, the boy was fast. He immediately searched the bodies on the ground to assure himself that Randal had well and truly died. Again. He spared a look at the three of his own group who had weapons drawn but had no need to fire them.

 

Except there might be a need. Aaron and David were both clearing the bar by the time Seth and Daryl jogged their way over to Michonne and Moss. The bar was empty. “He’s from before,” Daryl told them nodding over to Randal. “Said he had a bigger group last time. Like thirty or somethin’.”

 

David and Moss had been told about the memories some of the others had. While they thought it was seriously strange, it was no stranger than the dead getting back up again.

 

Moss nodded in acceptance, “They gave me a bad feeling anyway.” They pulled out hunting knives and made sure each dead body would stay that way before Michonne told them to get the trucks. They still had a store and the bar on this street before they would head back. Seth was sent back up to the roof for cover while the other five emptied the buildings.

 

They worked quickly, but there was more tension than before. They didn’t know if the rest of this other group would come looking for their friends.

 

Michonne had told them to keep it to the things they needed now and they’ll do the rest another time. The farm was surprised to see them back so early, they hadn’t expected them until at least sundown. Michonne and Daryl parked their U-Haul in the Garage lot with the others and walked the few feet across the grass to the Armory. With the main house being the primary location for the kids, the Armory had become the meeting place where business matters were handled.

 

Daryl told them about Randal, and how there were five of them, which Rick and Hershel confirmed was the same as last time. Sheriff Crowe was _very_ familiar with Randal Culver. The boy was weird. Just weird. He’d picked him up for harassment last year when the kid’s girlfriend broke up with him and he just wasn’t getting the idea that it was over. Maybe it was because they didn’t have cell phones when he was growing up, but Sheriff Crowe was just scratching his head at how Randal had managed to call her over two hundred times in the course of a few hours. _Weird._

The raids out the West Gate ended after that, at least for a while. They still sent runners to check for any changes to the town, but the long trips were postponed.

 

The East Gate on the other hand led to the larger stores Maggie had on her list. The Kroger’s distribution center was first up, and would take both teams. They waited a week before heading out. The time was spent moving a lot of their supplies into the upper levels of the shipping containers. The forklifts they’d grabbed came in handy for the relocation, but it still took time to move the heavier pieces around the farm.

 

The lower level of each stack was to be left alone since it acted as the emergency shelters. They were locked in place with concrete, and could support the farms occupants four times over in the event of a worst case scenario type of situation. At least for a month.

 

The upper level of the stacks were empty though, and the group spent a week separating out the supplies from their previous raids into clothing, furniture, weapons, survival gear, and household items. The still had some miscellaneous things they’d picked up on the raids, but if the entire farm had taken a look at something and couldn’t think of a current or future use, it went onto the flatbed.

 

Garbage also went on to the flatbed. For the first week of raiding, they collected the garbage along with the items to discard there. They had selected a site for dumping out near town, and the first run happened right before the big group left for the distro center. One giant haul to get rid of everything. After that, the dump runs were once a week with a team of four.

 

Once everything had been moved to the containers, the Storage building looked a little empty, but if they could pull off this raid, it would be filled before long.

 

They loaded up both teams into three U-Hauls and set out as the sun rose. Maggie hopped into the lead vehicle before it left saying this was the first run out the East Gate and she wanted to give them more support if things were worse than they thought.

 

It wasn’t _worse_ necessarily, but it was about what they figured. More accidents that needed to be cleared from the road, more walkers grouping together than they’d seen in town. Not enough to be called a herd. But enough that they were happy for a thirteen man team.

 

When they got to the gates of the distro center, they stopped and watched. The gate on the road actually had a pretty long driveway up to the building itself, so Michonne took a pair of binoculars they kept stashed in the cab and settled in.

 

She took her time counting the ones they could see. The fence around the facility was still up, but it wasn’t very sturdy. More for deterrence than defense. There were several dozen walkers inside. More than they wanted. But they had a plan.

 

Seth, Daryl, and Rosita climbed up to the roofs of the U-Hauls while the rest of them opened the rolling doors and set up inside the back. The drivers took the road slowly, with the rooftop shooters taking out the ones they could from a distance then focusing on helping out the crews inside when the walkers swarmed. Seth and Rosita were on fire with the distance shooting, but all too soon, the vehicles were surrounded. They made quick work of them with everyone managing to hold their own.

 

The sounds must have gotten the attention of the walkers they’d missed from behind the building, because just as the drivers were about to disembark, Michonne sounded the alarm that they had more coming. A lot more. Both drivers and passengers joined the shooters on top of the trucks, not wanting to chance a group this big. They’d brought a ton of ammo on Rick’s insistence, and were happy for it now.

 

It took over an hour to clear the herd. Just bodies, after bodies, after bodies. At one point Seth commented on how they were using the fallen bodies as a step stool to get closer to the roof. And he was absolutely right. Their heads could almost make it that high. He laughed and said it just made it easier to aim.

 

With the crews of each truck covering all sides, the only real scare came when the middle truck started to wobble, the weight of the walkers pressing their bodies to it causing it to be unstable. The other teams redirected some of their shots to get the number down on that truck for a minute, then went back to their own. By the end, the group got down and made a pathway through for the U-Hauls, leaving the piles of bodies on either side of the road.

 

The warehouse itself was still locked up with several semis sitting in a line, just waiting to be picked up. They went to grab the two they planned on, but Maggie took a look at the back loading docks and told them to make it three. There were a lot more than three ports, but they had a schedule to try and keep, and the time it took to load a full extra truck would already put them too close to sundown for her liking. She’d see if they could readjust later.

 

There had been only a few walkers inside the center. Most likely due to people leaving when everything started to happen. They didn’t get too far apparently if the size of the herd they just took out said anything. It wasn’t the largest they’d seen. Not by a long shot. But it was enough to use herd as a descriptor for all of them.

 

There was no map for them to navigate which items were kept where. So they spent another hour making one of their own. They had a list of things people really wanted: cough drops, toothpaste, toilet paper, tampons, soap…

 

And then there were other things: condoms, chips, chocolate, candy… Surprisingly, none of the women asked for make-up. Michonne smiled a little at that.

 

While most of the group mapped out the rows of goods, four split off to get the forklifts. They worked in four man teams, with the thirteenth man helping wherever it was needed. Four to help load each forklift, then catching a ride with one driving it to the loading docks, unloading into the truck, and one tapping out to stand guard while the previous guard took their place getting another load. Using the leapfrog system, they were able to have all three trucks loaded in about five hours.

 

Maggie said it was enough time, so they added a forth, this time all teams working on one truck had it ready in just under an hour. They saved room for all four of the forklifts to be loaded into the last truck, as well as several of the muscle racks to have shelves back in the Storage building. They could build the shelves themselves, and they probably would. But these were metal racks free for the taking. They could use them, and they certainly had the room.

 

Sparing a thought to cringe at the thought of what this haul would do to their inventory spreadsheets, Maggie hopped back in Michonne’s U-Haul, also filled to the brim, and they led their now seven trucks back to the gates.

 

The sun was setting, and the off-loading probably wouldn’t happen until tomorrow, but she figured they could have a week’s rest from the scheduled raids for this. But that was it. Only one week, and then it was back to business.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And forward we march!

“We need siding,” Crowe said as he sat down at the table they’d put in the middle of the Armory. The building had been designed with a bullpen type of set up in the main room, but not all of the desks a station would normally have for the deputies or officers. Instead, it was one large wooden table.

 

Maggie looked up from her notes as Selia navigated to a different spreadsheet on the tablet. The meeting minutes were hand written by Maggie in the comp. books they stored in the Armory. There were other books she kept at home, jotting down her ideas and potential raid sites whenever they came to mind or someone mentioned them. On a typical morning, Selia would have at least a page, sometimes more full of notes from Maggie’s book to work through.

 

Monday’s weren’t typical days though. Every Monday Maggie and Selia would spend the better part of the day in the Armory collecting notes from everyone, and gathering the core for a meeting in the evening if necessary. After a meeting like this, they had plenty to work that they usually stayed well into the evening prioritizing needs and scheduling for the rest of the week. Occasionally, the residents’ normal schedules needed to be mixed up, but she’d tried to give them a sense of routine.

 

Looking down at her book, Maggie jotted down ‘siding’ with a little dash next to it and asked for the details. The Garden & Farm Center was up, as well as the Laundromat. Now the builders wanted siding for the structures to protect them from the elements. They’d need another run to the next town over. They’d raided another lumber yard in that town, and there was a connecting building there where things like siding and insulation were found. They hadn’t needed it at the time, but Maggie could send another crew out.

 

“We’re going to need the actual washers and dryers too.” Patricia spoke up. The room wasn’t crowded, but these Monday meetings were a time for all farm residents to come to the Armory and discuss the things they thought the group would need. So far, the only washer and dryer on the farm was in the main house, and that led to a constant enough stream of loads that they’d had to put someone in charge of keeping the different piles together.

 

Anders and Carl took the job, and set up a jar with sharpies next to the house’s back door. Whenever someone came by with laundry, they insisted on every item’s tag being marked with the name. First name for single people, last for couples. Carl had smirked when Merle came by with the load from Rick and Daryl’s, and just wrote Grimes on everything.

 

The two sorted, did a full load of wash, pulled out whatever was in the dryer, sorted, and sorted, and loaded again. They even folded the piles for each house. Whatever free time they had was spent wrangling the kids or helping out in the kitchen.

 

Maggie nodded and jotted down ‘washer & dryer’ with a dash next to each. Getting the total number they needed was more important than the brand they went after. But she had a JC Penny’s store on her list of sites and figured the higher end machine, the less chance it would break down anytime soon.

 

The store was in a strip along with a Target, Michaels, Barnes & Noble and Sketchers outlet that they would hit. It was an open area with no fence that had looked pretty good for the taking last time they scoped it out. There were no residential areas too close, and it wasn’t blocked in, so most of the walkers from the area had migrated. The inside of the stores could be another story, but they wanted to get there sooner rather than later.

 

The buildings should last for the first year, but the Georgia heat, and cold, would be a wear and tear on those structures that could make them unstable. They all remembered what happened with the roof collapse. The JC Penny’s and Target would both take two teams and the four semis, so two trips were planned for them. Another trip, same teams, planned to clear out the Barnes & Noble and Sketchers together.

 

They still used the U-Hauls but had lowered it to two, one in front of the semis and one behind. The drivers were trained using the farm’s roads for practice until they felt comfortable. When it was a smaller team for a smaller store, they only took the one semi.

 

The raid at the distro last month had gone very well, all things considered. If the original herd that took down the farm had started at that center, then it made sense as to why the farm hadn’t been attacked on schedule. Still, the trucks that went out now carried bags of ammunition for whatever weapon the crew used. They weren’t taking any chances that the walker herd they’d seen was the same one as before.

 

Daryl and Rosita were set up in the garage next to the Armory, with Miguel learning the trade. On Mondays Rosita or Daryl would send Miguel over to Maggie with a list of items they wanted/needed. They had the machinery and tools already, but the car parts and upkeep items were still needed. It wasn’t every Monday that they had a list. But enough that Maggie expected the boy anyway.

 

The two of them had also been responsible for an operation where the abandoned cars were set up in a line on the sides of the roads surrounding the farms. The outer perimeter roads were pretty far out with dense forest surrounding the farm itself, and blocking the road for the East and West gate meant delays in their trips when cars needed to be moved, but Morgan had joined their team and they came up with a metal gate on each end.

 

Morgan had been a welder. It was a trade he’d picked up as a young man, and worked at it in a factory to support his wife while she was in school. He’d made use of the supplies they raided from the hardware store back in King County and quickly had the gates operational  

 

Speaking of Jenny. Maggie had to plan a separate raid, with her included, to clear out one of the nearby dental clinic. Turns out Jenny was an Orthodontic Surgeon. Stacey, Tyler’s wife, just about cried when they found out. They had a thirteen year old son in braces, and Stacey had been worried how they were going to deal with them.

 

Leslie and Terry welcomed Jenny into the Clinic and gave her one of the rooms to work out of. Their ER set up was in the front, but the back had four rooms to be used for private exams. Simon, while already a competent EMS technician, was selected to work under Jenny and learn the trade.

 

The dental clinic had a pharmacy attached, and a crew of six emptied the furniture from one room and all the supplies and meds from the rest of the building. They even took the couches from the waiting room.

 

They’d used two U-Hauls only since the trip was expected to be small. Morgan, who’d insisted on coming if his wife was going to be there had spotted a Walgreen’s on the way and talked the group into raiding the pharmacy there as well. They hit more than just the pharmacy, and Daryl smiled when Merle returned from the trip and tossed a box of Coco Puffs his way.

 

The smaller locations were nice, but they hit the motherlode with the JC Penny’s. They spent about half an hour clearing the place of walkers and got started. The loading dock was different here, there weren’t as many ports on the platform and the group had to load the trucks two at a time.

 

Maggie knew when she was scheduling the run that they weren’t making it back that same night, but the semis all had cabins with a living quarters for them to bunk down in when it was time to rest. They spent the first day clearing out the JC Penny’s of their washers, dryers, furniture, mattresses, cookware, home linens, a lot of the clothes (especially winter gear and baby supplies), and a lot of the practical shoes.

 

With it being the summer, the department stores they went to mostly had summer wear, which would be needed. It wasn’t until the group had raided a Tractor Supply that they came back with some more heavy duty coats. Their second moment of relief was when Hank brought up the _nearby_ Bass Pro shop. It was technically nearby, only about an hour and a half away. But once their containers on the farm were filled with the fruits of that particular haul, all of the people chosen to work outside in the winter were enormously relieved. Particularly Chris, as he was meant to shadow Hershel in his work with the livestock and had never been fond of colder weather.  

 

At the strip mall, the crew spent the first day loading three of the semis from JC Penny’s and rested for the night. They thought they’d need all four, but three had been enough. Since they weren’t expected back for two to three days, they spent the second day clearing the Barnes & Noble into the fourth semi. They took the furniture from the Starbucks inside, as well as their entire coffee/tea selection, mugs, and travel mugs. Maggie jumped on two of the leather chairs as soon as she saw them back at the farm.

 

In a move that surprised everyone, so did Daryl. The furniture coming back to the farm thrilled everyone in the cabins. They’d set up with the basics from IKEA, but the little additions they found made them all happy. Daryl and Rick now had two rocking chairs on their porch from the Tractor Supply, and apparently, they now had a leather chair for inside the house.

 

Rick had encouraged Daryl to make the decorating decisions for the cabin and was pleased when the hunter approached the task with all the seriousness he would give planning a takedown of walkers. So far the hunter had shown to have pretty decent taste.

 

The coffee section was also a big hit in the Main Apartment. David had actually spent a couple years as a Starbuck barista in Atlanta, and was apparently everyone’s go-to guy for a cup of coffee in the morning…. Or on a late night shift in the guard towers.

 

Eric was overjoyed when they parked the semi from Barnes & Noble outside of Hershel’s house once the coffee and furniture had been removed. The books for the children, as well as the stuffed animals and toys for the babies were a very welcome sight. Glenn shook his head when Lily grabbed the entire Twilight series and ran off to her room. She was sharing with Beth in the main house and had bonded so well with Annette that Glenn didn’t want to force her to join him and Maggie in the cabin. Annette seemed happy about it anyway.    

 

* * *

 

It was during a time when all crews were on site at the farm, unloading the last haul from the strip mall, that Guillermo radioed in there were two women approaching the East Gate. It was the first time since Otis and Patricia that they had someone come up to the farm. With the early warning from Guillermo, they had bodies on the containers and a couple more in the tower before the women made it into the clearing. They were on foot, and armed.

 

Rick figured if they came by foot, they would’ve had to hop the cars along the side of the road. The only other way through was breaking through the gate, but he thought they’d probably have a vehicle with them if that was the case.

 

As the women, one dark hair with a ball cap and a younger blond left the shadows and stepped into the midday sun, Merle let out a huff, then a chuckle and lowered his weapon. “It’s just the two of ya?” he shouted down.

 

The dark haired woman seemed to recognize Merle’s voice and tensed up, taking a tighter grip on her gun. “Relax sweetheart,” Merle chuckled. “I’m all reformed now.”

 

With that he climbed down from the container and went to open the gate. Rick had been watching the women, and it was the younger one he recognized after a few minutes. He left the guard tower to help with the gate, but the others stayed in position, watching for any signs of an ambush.

 

Once the women came inside, and the gate was closed behind them, they both seemed to sag in relief. Their movements becoming jerky, almost like they wanted to drop right there on the spot. Merle noticed and disappeared into the tower for a moment to grab some water bottles and granola bars for each of them.

 

The woman took off her ball cap, and just as Rick suspected, Andrea had dyed her hair. That would be an interesting story to hear. Her brows were still blond though and it made her eyes look even more like ice than before.

 

“Thank you,” she told Merle as she grabbed the water and gulped it down. Amy did the same from beside her, and quickly moved on to the granola bar. Both were gone in minutes. They brought the women more water and took them up into the guard tower while they waited for the pickup to make its rounds back their way. It was important that the truck continue to make the check-ins along the fence line in the event of a human approaching the gates. They needed to know if there was an attack happening, and couldn’t chance a guard tower losing signal on the radios, or needing an extra man for support.

 

Andrea and Amy were both exhausted, they’d apparently been on the road for a while and confirmed that their vehicle had run out of gas several miles back. But as the women looked out over the farm from inside the perch, they had looks of amazement. Amy had never seen the farm the first time. But Andrea was captivated as she took in the changes.

 

Hershel and Maggie had been watching from the porch of the main house, and as the pickup brought the new arrivals closer, escorted by Rick and Merle, Maggie came down to greet them with a giant grin.

 

There wasn’t any doubt that Andrea remembered everything, and they quickly learned that Amy had as well. “How’d you guys do all of this?” Andrea asked the small group of them. She and Amy had come up to the porch where Annette had brought them both a glass of sweet iced tea, something about the sugar and caffeine being good for them.

 

“Misuse of government funds.” Merle answered. He was grinning as Carl came outside holding Caroline. Andrea just stared at Merle in shock as he took the little girl from Carl’s hands and lifted her over his head to get her laughing before handing her off to Rick. She was distracted by the baby for just a minute before looking back and choking out “Carl!” and opening her arms for a hug.

 

The children of the group had been precious to them all the first time around, even if she’d been too deep into her grief over her sister, she’d still felt protective over the children.

 

Rick led them down along the path from the house that met up with Northwest Street, near the Main Apartment. They didn’t start the tour just yet but they stopped to let the women use the facilities and freshen up, as well as a quick stop in the Clinic to see Leslie. She looked them over and told them they’d likely need a day of two of rest to recover, but to come back in if they started to experience any dizziness, nausea, or fatigue.

 

Andrea gave Merle another look of confusion when Leslie told Merle to keep an eye on them and get them set up with an IV saline drip if he thought they needed it, and his only response was a “Yes, ma’am.”

 

Their last stop for now was the Armory, where Selia and Crowe were waiting. Miguel was there as well, putting in a quick note to Selia that the Garage needed to restock on toilet paper. Rick told the boy to run and grab Daryl.

 

The hunter/mechanic had been relieved from a morning shift on guard duty, and after taking a quick lunch with the kids, was setting up the Garage with the supplies from the latest haul.

 

Andrea and Amy were both shown to a seat, while Sheriff Crowe pulled out some more food for them. Amy was ravenous, while Andrea had a few bites and asked, “So I’m guessing you want to hear about our story now?”

 

Selia smiled at her and after introducing herself, explained that she would be keeping a record of Andrea’s journey to the farm and to begin whenever when felt comfortable. Andrea seemed shocked by the laptop that Selia opened, and realized that all around her, she’d seen electricity. Somehow, the farm had not only built a giant fence and towers, and _so many buildings_ , but they had electricity and running water.

 

She tensed for a second when she was reminded of Woodbury, but steeled herself and tried to stop her brain from assuming the worst. Rick was here. And Maggie. And Hershel. This wouldn’t be like that.

 

Before she could start, the door opened and Daryl walked in. He looked at her and Amy sitting at the table, smiled and nodded, then made his way over to Rick and Caroline.

 

“Figured she wouldn’t mind dropping in to see you.” She heard Rick tell the hunter as he bounced the baby a few times. Andrea was taken in by the sight of Daryl playing with the little girl’s feet and the sounds of Caroline squealing back.

 

“I’m covered in filth, baby girl,” Daryl told her. “I’m gonna get ya all dirty if I hold ya.”

 

Apparently it was not what Caroline wanted to hear and she vocalized her displeasure until Daryl pulled her into his arms, locking her up high near his shoulder. Every time he did this, she had one of two reactions: either she slumped over his shoulder letting him know she was tired, or she sat straight up looking at either him or her surroundings. This time it was the latter.

 

She was all too happy to play with his hair, still short and blond, slapping her hand against it when he didn’t have any reaction to her pulling.

 

Another shock for Andrea, maybe the most unexpected…after Merle being accommodating, the farm being converted into a compound, the water, the electricity… was when Rick smiled at Daryl and Caroline, then came forward to press a quick kiss to the side of the hunter’s head before heading to the fridge for a drink. It was so casual that it must be commonplace. She nodded her head and made a ‘huh’ expression before turning back to the table to get started.

 

After waking up, Andrea and Amy spent the first day in their Atlanta apartment once they both realized it hadn’t been a dream. She left her job, not with any notice, she just didn’t go back. They spent the first week talking and making plans, but Andrea knew where she wanted to start.

 

They knew the walkers were coming, and honestly didn’t have a solid plan for dealing with that beyond staying mobile until they found a safe place. Before they came though, Andrea had a plan. Just one plan.

 

Philip Blake could not survive. They made their way to Woodbury with a jeep full of their belongings and checked into a hotel. Andrea dyed her hair to try and avoid detection from any of the previous Woodbury residents who might have remembered.

 

They’d caught on pretty quick that not everyone remembered the walkers. They didn’t know why, and didn’t question it. She just hoped the brunette hair and ball cap would be enough of a disguise for the ones who did.

 

She found Blake two weeks later. There was only about a week left before everything went down and Amy was getting more and more nervous every time Andrea left the motel to check out the bars.

 

The reason she hadn’t found him earlier turned out to be because he didn’t actually live in Woodbury. He lived one town over. But when she walked into the bar one night in the last week, there he was. Drunk and going on about how he was going to save his little girl this time.

 

Andrea took a seat at one of the tables near the bar, ordered a drink and settled in to listen. It was clear that he remembered, but the rest of the bar was writing him off as being drunk or delusional, or both. He went on for _hours._ When the bar closed down, he went off to sleep in his truck, and Andrea hid behind the dumpsters until everyone else had cleared out.

 

He wasn’t going anywhere. So she quickly made her way back to the motel a few blocks away and waited another couple hours.

 

In a different set of clothes than the ones she’d been wearing, this time in baggie jeans, boots, a large hoodie and an overcoat, she walked back to the lot.

 

The idiot hadn’t even locked his door. He was passed out along the front bench of his old truck and didn’t stir as she opened the passenger door. From there it took only seconds for the knife to stab through the temple into his brain.

 

She gently closed the door and walked back to town along a different route. But it was three in the morning. No one was out, or up to notice her. If they did, they’d never be able to say for sure it had been a woman.

 

She and Amy kept a low profile for the next few days. When the walkers came, they scaled the fire escape from the apartment Philip had acquired the last time. Barricading the door, they waited out the worst of it, and skipped town just over a month later, after the walkers cleared out.

 

They weren’t entirely gone, but Andrea found them an SUV to travel in. They traveled the backroads away from the prison towards the farm, hoping to run into Rick’s group along the road. But the further and further they got, with no sign of the group, Andrea started to believe they never made it out of the herd.

 

Even after their car ran out of gas, they continued toward the farm on foot. When they saw the cars lining the road, they knew they had to keep going. Seeing the metal welded into a gate on the turn off that would lead to Hershel’s gave them so much hope. They were tense the whole walk down the road leading to the East Gate. Being surrounded by trees meant having nowhere to run from the walkers from the forest, and Andrea knew firsthand how daunting running through these trees would be.

 

Coming up on that gate though… Seeing the farm. This was more than they could’ve hoped for and Andrea was tearing up by the end.

 

Maggie was also crying in her chair. Her time with the Governor was not something she talked about much, if ever. Glenn had been so good helping her move on, but it had been hard. Added to that, he was the man who killed her father. She got up to pull Andrea into a tight hug and thanked her repeatedly.

 

Amy had stayed quiet during the story, and looking over at her, Merle noticed she was about two minutes from passing out right there at the table.

 

“C’mon kiddo,” Merle said, standing to join Andrea an Maggie, but shaking the girls shoulder to rouse her. “We got a room with a bed set up for the both of you.”

 

Andrea helped Amy up and the group, minus Daryl and Rick who were taking Caroline back to the Hershel’s house, left to take the women to the Main Apartment to settle in.

 

They each had a room with a bed, nightstand, and dresser. There were already curtains on the window, and sheets on the bed, but Maggie said they could change them out if they wanted. Andrea couldn’t really comprehend the size of their storage when Maggie told her about the containers filled with supplies, but she was starting to grasp that it was big. They also had clothes for them that they could get the next day. In the meantime, there was a welcome basket on the top of each dresser with a bathrobe and a towel, shower items, and toiletries.

 

Dinner was at seven, but they didn’t figure the girls would be awake for that, so they showed them around the ‘kitchen’ out in the communal area. Really, it was three small kitchen setups that they’d taken from Lowes.

 

When first coming in the doors of the Main Apartment, they had several of the wooden tables and chairs they’d taken from Starbucks. After that they had the mini kitchens from Lowes (along with the espresso machine from Starbucks). Tyler and Glenn had run wires for electricity, but the sinks didn’t work yet because no one wanted to hassle with figuring out the water given the pipes didn’t run to that area. But the cabinets and fridges had food, and the microwaves worked.

 

On the other side of the kitchens, they’d set up a long counter with a giant 98 inch flat screen. It had been hidden from view when they’d stopped in earlier. In the TV area, there was at least another thirty feet filled with couches, rugs, and chairs.

 

Once again Andrea was just shaking her head. This was too much. She had gone from dying, to killing a monster, to hiding from walker, to making her way _on foot_ to the farm… and there was a 98 inch flat screen in the room.

 

Maggie laughed at the bewildered look on her face, assured her that they would take her on a tour in the morning, and ushered the others out so the two travelers could get some sleep.

 

Andrea checked in on her sister after grabbing a shower with her new toiletries and flip flops, and bathrobe (She was _never_ giving up this bathrobe), but Amy was passed out on the bed in her own room, having pulled the blanket haphazardly across her.

 

Looking in the dresser, she found the sweats and T-shirt Maggie had told her was there. She had just enough strength to get dressed and get in bed before sleep took her too. The plans for tomorrow going over in her head: Make sure Amy’s okay, look at farm, see Michonne. Rick said she was here, just busy with weapons training. She’d see her tomorrow.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a little detour from the farm life for a minute....
> 
> I want you all to know that I really thought about the decisions I made here in this chapter. And while it's not what I originally wanted to happen back in the beginning, it just all seemed to flow together, and I am resolved in this new direction. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the change of plans!

The thing about killing a man and avoiding detection for at least a month, is that the stars have to align and you have to be able to recognize when they do. Then, you have to be willing to take advantage of that opportunity.

 

She had never thought growing up that she would be particularly skilled as an actor. And maybe she couldn’t pull off every roll, but Carol had learned during the apocalypse that she was _very_ skilled at pretending to be meek and subservient. After all, she’d had a lot of practice at it over the long years of being married to Ed.

 

When she woke up in her old bed that first morning of her second life Ed was passed out in bed next to her. But she could tell he would be waking in the next few minutes. Whenever Ed slept, he slept hard. Usually aided by alcohol. But when he woke up, he’d start by jerking a little, then rolling over, then scrunching his face up, and finally dragging himself from the bed to take a piss.

 

The routine never changed. And it didn’t that morning either. “You gonna get my food on the table some time today?” he said to her when he came back in the room. Her normal routine before had been to get out of bed while Ed was in the bathroom and have coffee ready for him before he came into the kitchen.

 

But that morning, she just lay there, watching the scenes from before play out across the blank wall and knowing somehow, just _knowing_ it hadn’t really been a dream. And that it was coming for them again.

 

In her mind, she’d just been fighting off a herd of walkers, no hope of making it out alive. But her sacrifice meant Daryl and Rick had enough time to warn Michonne and Carl. Had enough time to collect Judith and get out of the building they were trapped in.

 

She’d had years away from this man. Years to recover and remake herself into a woman who would never be anyone’s victim ever again. But she couldn’t show that right now. She had an overwhelming need to go into Sophia’s room and see her little girl alive and well. It was so strong in her chest that she found herself unable to move.

 

“You hear me?” Ed said, rousing her finally.

 

“Sorry,” she muttered quietly as she got up and padded across the room. “Must not be feeling well.” She did indeed make coffee, then breakfast. She checked the date on the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall and mentally counted the weeks until the walkers would come. She had about a month.

 

It was fortunate that Ed preferred when she didn’t speak more than necessary. She could act as long as she was silent. If she’d had to talk with him and pretend everything was normal, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t just snap right then and there.

 

As was part of the normal routine, Carol left the kitchen while Ed was eating to go wake Sophia. But when she opened her daughter’s door, she found her sitting up in bed, clutching her pillow and crying. When Sophia saw her in the doorway, she ran from the bed to wrap her arms around her mother’s waist. Sobbing about how sorry she was for getting lost.

 

Carol froze on the spot. While she _knew_ it had been real, there was something about Sophia confirming it that just crushed her. It was real. And that meant Sophia had died. It meant that _she_ had died. She hadn’t been strong enough to save her daughter the last time.

 

Holding her daughter tight, she knew she would slaughter anyone, or anything, that tried to take her little girl again.

 

She wouldn’t feel remorse. Those emotions weren’t the way she’d learned to survive. In that life, Carol had become hardened, and she knew no matter how much it overwhelmed her that her daughter was alive right now, she needed to lock those emotions down quick. They had to prepare.

 

But first she had to deal with Ed. It wouldn’t do to rouse suspicion, so she quietly knelt in front of Sophia and explained that everything had been real. That she would take better care of her this time. And that they needed to be careful with her father. They were going to survive on their own this time.

 

Sophia nodded. The few weeks she’d lived away from her father the last time had been the best few weeks of her life. She’d had her mom, and Carl, and Mr. Daryl. It had been nice.

 

Carol continued to whisper to her daughter about the things they needed to do. They were going to gather some supplies, and head to a safe place. There was plenty to do to get them ready. But above all, do not tell Ed. He didn’t seem to be acting any different, and Carol refused to try and save him this time.

 

Trying to stick to the normal life as long as they needed to, Carol got Sophia ready for school. But when they came into the kitchen, Ed was on the phone telling work he wasn’t coming in today.

 

That was different.

 

“What’s she doing dressed?” He frowned over at the two of them in the doorway. “She’s not going to school today.”

 

Carol ushered Sophia to the table and set a plate of food in front of her. She washed Ed’s plate before fixing her own meal, and the two ate while Ed made a few more phone calls. His buddy had a cousin who lived in an RV and was looking to sell for a decent price.

 

As the morning progressed, it became more and more certain that Ed had remembered everything. A quick shake of her head, and Carol stopped Sophia from saying anything. If Ed was going to make plans, Carol would let him. She didn’t question anything he did, knowing he would expect her to go along with it.

 

But in the back of her mind, she had her own plans going.

 

On the third day of the house being in disarray from Ed’s preparations, he told her they were going to look at an RV. He hadn’t told her why, and hadn’t shared any of his memories or plans with her. He just got busy planning and kept muttering under his breath about how ‘I’ll show him who’s in charge this time’.

 

The man they were meeting had a wife who was expecting their third child. They said the RV was great for their family, but the grand parents wanted to see the kids more, and they didn’t want to do another pregnancy on the road.

 

They talked for over an hour with Ed and Carol about homeschooling, and picking a state for residency (apparently only a few states allowed residency for RV-ers). There were things to consider about campgrounds and where they could and couldn’t park. There was of course the tour of the RV itself, a Heartland Gateway 3650BH, and how to hook everything up.

 

Ed sort of payed attention, but mostly directed Carol to ‘make sure you learn this’. She was polite but quiet as the couple went over everything, and noticed how the wife occasionally gave Ed an uncomfortable look. Ed told them he’d have the money transferred by Monday, and would be back with his truck to pick up the rig.

 

Sure enough, come Monday there was an RV sitting outside of their house. He told them to pack up the things they wanted, and set up in the RV because they were leaving in a week and they weren’t coming back.

 

Sophia was concerned, but had gotten more and more excited when she was moving her things into the RV. She liked the fact that the RV would have walls that kept the walkers from being able to get her while she slept. Carol reminded her that they needed to stay quiet and just go along with everything Ed was doing for now. Don’t do anything that might draw his attention.

 

It was unnerving for Carol to watch her daughter go from excited to meek and shy in the span of a few seconds. It seemed Carol wasn’t the only one who knew how to play the part, so to speak. She pressed a quick kiss to the girl’s head and told her to ‘keep those acting skills, they might save you one day’.

 

She had just under 15K in a secret account that she wanted to spend on supplies that Ed was clearly not thinking about, but wasn’t sure how to go about it without him knowing.

 

As they were making their way to the Atlanta quarry (she’d figured out the first few hours on the road that he was taking them there), the stars aligned.

 

Ed had stopped at a Walmart that evening to stock up on cases and cases of beer, and then drove them out into the back roads. He stopped for the night about halfway from the city to the quarry. Carol didn’t know why, because it honestly wasn’t that much further. But Ed had made the decision and that was final. He went outside near sunset and started up the grill.

 

Grilling was the only time Ed would cook food, he said it was a part of being a man. It usually involved getting pretty hammered, and that night was no exception.

 

Carol had sent Sophia to bed early, and retired to the RV’s couch herself while Ed sat outside in his fold-up chair. He stumbled inside a little later to yell at Carol for not keeping the mini-fridge outside stocked, grabbed a beer and lumbered back to the door.

 

While her husband was muttering about needing to take a piss and wobbled over to the tree line, Carol went into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife and walked outside. She spotted Ed quickly and made a silent approach.

 

She didn’t wait for him to turn around, just thrust the knife up into the base of his skull and let his body fall forward into the drop off just inside the trees.

 

These were backroads. And the body was in a ravine nearly fifteen feet down from the road. If anyone came through here, it would be very unlikely that they would stop at this exact spot and know enough to go looking for the body. If they smelled it rotting, they’d probably just figure it was a deer.

 

She closed up the grill unit, packed everything away, then went to wake Sophia so she could ride the last hour to the quarry in the truck.

 

When she arrived at the campgrounds, she was shocked to see a familiar RV already set up. It wouldn’t have been a surprise for her to see someone since the quarry was an actual campground, but she recognized that particular RV.

 

Sure enough, as soon as she parked the RV door opened and Dale came out to greet the new campers. When he saw it was Carol, he smiled the biggest smile she’d ever seen on him and met him halfway for a greeting. He was tentative for a moment and asked after Ed, but she told him it was just her and Sophia this time. He nodded, but didn’t ask.

 

“Help me unhook the truck and we’ll go into town for supplies in the morning.” They didn’t have much time, but Carol was determined to stock up while they did.

 

The rest of the arrivals at the quarry were both familiar and not. Glenn never came, but T-Dog and Jacqui did. Both remembered, and were moved into the RV with Carol and Sophia. Dale had purchased new hoses and belts for his RV, but they weren’t sold on taking it with them when it was time to leave. He supposed they could keep it if they had enough people to need it, but it would take some serious work.

 

Andrea and Amy were missing as were the Dixon brothers, but others had arrived after the walkers came. One of the things that surprised Carol the most was that Carl wasn’t with Lori and Shane this time. She watched everyone closely, but it seemed none of the others remembered anything.

 

Shane quickly established himself as the leader of the group, just like last time. But Carol and T-Dog asserted themselves as runners. They helped out trying to build a perimeter warning system for the camp, but the group was as disorganized as the last time.

 

They lasted longer though, and heard the blast of the CDC exploding far in the distance. Only the survivors who remembered knew what it meant, and they didn’t share it with anyone. Dale sought Jacqui out that day and took her on a walk down to the water while she processed that she was now living longer than she had the first time.

 

They lasted a good long while as the weather turned, and Lori’s pregnancy became visible to everyone. They stayed safe from the walkers, being careful to keep the noise down. Eventually though, Shane insisted they find a safe place for Lori to have the baby.

 

He wanted Ft. Benning. But they didn’t have the gas, and Carol told him there were apartments in the city that she and T-Dog had checked out. They were clear of walkers and easy to defend, plus they were right next to Grady Memorial.

 

She had a plan. She knew it would be a risk with the Grady cops, but they had a doctor to help with the delivery. Her time at the quarry was not just spent protecting the people and going on runs. She had also made it a point to get close to Lori. She became the woman’s trusted confidant when she had shared her experiences with kids and ex-husbands.

 

Did Lori have any other kids? Oh, she did, that was wonderful. A little boy around Sophia’s age. If he were here, I’m sure they’d be the best of friends.

 

Where was Carl? With her ex, wasn’t that just terrible… but I’m sure they’re fine.

 

Where is her ex? Oh, I’m so sorry to hear he ran off to a farm with some girl named Maggie. How awful. She had an ex-husband herself and she’d just have died if he’d taken Sophia to run off with some hussy named Maggie. What kind of a name was that anyway?

 

Yeah. Lori trusted her. Enough to convince Shane that they needed to go into the city for the baby. They spent a few weeks camped out in the luxury apartments Carol had found, but eventually the group got together to go on a run to Grady.

 

Just as she knew they would be, the group was intercepted by the Grady cops. None of them seemed to remember, but Carol was still careful. She’d told the others in the know all about Grady and what these people were doing. They’d all agreed it was a calculated risk.

 

What she hadn’t anticipated, although she probably should have, was that Shane was getting pretty chummy with the cops. He backed Dawn’s plays and soon joined the staff. They gave him a uniform and called him Officer Walsh. He said he’d be eternally grateful to them for giving Lori a safe place to deliver their baby, which she named Claudia.

 

It seemed nice there, and even though the cops ran the place, Carol’s group knew enough not to trust any of them. One of the new arrivals, a boy named Noah fell in with their group pretty fast. He didn’t remember, but Carol had told them about him, and that they had to save him if they could. Dale took him under his wing and helped him start to work through the loss of his twin. He told them that the cops had left his brother to die. And they’d seen for their own eyes that the cops are corrupt and power tripping. They needed to leave.

 

Carol started to casually mention Carl in her talks with Lori, and how they’re not that far from where Lori said the farm was. She was subtle about it, but persistent.

 

Sure enough, a week later she came across Lori crying in a room, hunched over a piece of paper with a pen trembling in her hand.

 

“Lori,” she called quietly as she stepped in the room. “What are you doing in here?”

 

Judith, now Claudia, was in one of the baby cots from the maternity ward, sleeping peacefully as Lori broke down over the paper in front of her. “I told him….” She sobbed out. “I told him I wanted to go find Carl.”

 

Carol lowered herself into the chair next to her, rubbing her back and encouraging her to continue.

 

“I told him I’m his _mother_! That I can’t just leave him out there like that. I showed him the directions Rick gave me. You know, the ones for the farm that I told you about? And he… he…” She took another minute to cry and shook her head before wiping angrily at her eyes. “He just took them and burned them.”

 

Glancing down at the paper, Carol could see that Lori was trying to recreate the directions but appeared to struggle with her memory. She calmly took the pen from the crying woman and pulled the paper towards her.

 

With a small smile, she knew it was now or never. Clicking the pen again, she started to write in the missing pieces. At some point Lori had stopped crying and just sat there staring at her with apprehension on her face. When Carol had finished, she looked back up at her friend.

 

Lori read the new directions and stared in shock at Carol.

 

“Lori, some of us remember all of this happening the first time. I don’t know why, and I don’t care to know why. But about a month before the walkers came, we all woke up and remembered years of living through all of this.” To her credit, Lori stayed silent. Carol continued. “Not all of us made it. You never made it past the delivery. But we’ve done what we can to save the people close to us.”

 

“My baby… did my baby…” Lori rose from the table to pick up Claudia and hold her close.

 

“She lived,” Carol smiled as she told her. “But Carl named her Judith.” She watched as Lori shut her eyes tight around more tears, bending forward slightly as she sobbed out Carl’s name.

 

“Lori, I need you to hear me right now.” She rose from the table as well and came closer. “Rick was the leader of our group. He’s not dating Maggie, he never was. Maggie has always been our family, our sister. I know you told me that Shane said he saw them together, but she’s married to another member of our group, Glenn. He should have been at the quarry. And I have to believe that the reason he wasn’t is because he’s with Rick and Maggie, and the rest of our family.”

 

She gave the new mother a moment to take that in, then told her “We need to leave. We have to get out of here and find Rick and Carl.”

 

Lori nodded, but looked scared all of a sudden. “Shane won’t leave here. He won’t let us leave.”

 

“We’ll see about that.” Carol told her. She spent a while longer with Lori, took the new directions to destroy them in case anyone else found them, and told her that she had to be convincing with Shane. He couldn’t suspect anything.

 

Lori was adamant that she would do absolutely _nothing_ to jeopardize getting to Carl. If Shane had been lying to her from the start then she had zero problems leaving without him. She was near to breaking down into tears again when she realized that _everything_ had been a lie, and ‘how could I be so stupid?’

 

Carol told her that there was no room in this world for that kind of thinking. Mistakes had been made, but there was nowhere to go but forward. Living in the past would get you killed.

 

It took another month before they felt Lori was healed enough from the cesarean to travel. They made plans and kept their heads down. And Lori played her part _perfectly_ with Shane. But she didn’t want him to touch her at night anymore and often told him she was still sore, recovering from the surgery. Halfway through the month, they spotted Shane coming out of Dawn’s room one morning. Lori didn’t care.

 

They were right to plan for trouble in their escape. They’d made it nearly to the parking garage, keeping a slow pace for Lori and Noah, when they heard Shane shouting behind them. They were only one floor up and were almost to the stairwell doors. T-Dog had scouted the stairwell earlier. This was the fastest way to the RV, and it was clear. He and Carol had made sure of that the day before. The floor they were on was not as clear, but the walkers were locked behind the double doors across from the stairs.

 

They turned around to see all of the Grady cops along with Jim and Morales standing about twenty feet down the hall with their guns drawn. Dawn looked amused, but Shane looked downright murderous.

 

Dale pushed Lori, Sophia, and Noah closer to the stairwell with Jacqui, then joined Carol and T-Dog in the hall. He tried to talk them down, telling them that they had all done the work asked of them, but they needed to go find their families. Dawn laughed.

 

The cops advanced a couple steps but quickly stopped when Carol raised the gun Lori had stolen for her. Carefully, ever so carefully, T-Dog shuffled to the right. The walkers behind the doors were growing restless with the sound of living bodies so close. “Say the word.” he whispered.

 

The cops hadn’t heard him, and they didn’t seem all that concerned with a room full of walkers so close. But Carol gave a small turn of her head in his direction to let him know she understood the plan.

 

Dale’s negotiation tactics were useless in the face of an enraged Shane, and as the man made a move closer to their group, Carol shouted “Now!”

 

T-Dog opened the doors at the same time as Jacqui ushered everyone into the stairwell. They slammed the door behind them just as the first walker was crashing into it.

 

Gunshots rang out from the hall, and the group wasted no time rushing down the stairs to the parking garage where the RV was waiting. Dale and Carol jumped in the truck while the others quickly boarded the living quarters.

 

And then they were gone. The busted through the fence on the way out of the lot, and saw walkers milling about the open space. But they didn’t stop to look around. Carol took point in the passenger seat and had Dale stop only once to pick up a few rifles left behind at a fallen military check point.

 

After they left the city, they ran into an intersection that needed to be cleared. They checked for walkers, but finding none, decided to stretch their legs for a few minutes while Dale and T-Dog siphoned the gas from the cars before pushing them into a ditch.

 

Sophia refused to leave the RV.

 

Other than those two breaks, and one more to fill the gas tank, the RV didn’t stop. Dale had driven this route before. They had every reason to believe the group was on the farm. Lori had told Carol that Rick was ‘doing some construction’ on the farm. That he’d left what had to have been days after he woke up to go down there with Carl.

 

She had been upfront with Carol about the divorce, and that she felt shameful for some of the things she said to him. But Carol had just reiterated the motto of ‘nowhere to go but forward’ and that she could spend however much time she wanted trying to make up for the past after they got there. But they _had to get there_ first.

 

It was night by the time they made it to the farm road and saw the lines of cars. And the gate. They could make it over or through the cars if they wanted, but it would mean walking the three mile farm road on foot, surrounded by a forest with no telling how many walkers in the trees. In the dark.

 

Instead of that suicidal plan, they parked a little ways away from the gate and waited until morning. The RV was designed with six beds, two of which were queens. It was more than enough for the group to make themselves comfortable and sleep through the night.

 

They started walking after the sun rose, Carol taking the lead with a rifle and T-Dog and Dale trailing the group with two more. Within an hour, they came out of the tree canopy as the road met a giant, black fence with a guard pointing his own rifle down at them.

 

“We’re looking for Rick Grimes.” Carol shouted up. The man on the fence said something into a radio as another figure rushed out onto the tower overhang to see them. Even from that high up, Carol could see a giant smile breaking out on Glenn’s face.

 

Within another minute, the gates were swinging open and the small group made their way inside.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was pretty interested to see how Lori meshed... so I kept going. 
> 
> Enjoy another chapter, earlier than planned!

Andrea had been on the lake with Amy for the last two hours, collecting the ‘twenty fish at least’ catch that Annette and Patricia requested for the evening meal. Jason, one of the firefighters from the county had offered to join them, and Andrea had smiled to see the blush on Amy’s face. But she had told the young man they would need to regretfully decline.

 

This was a bonding activity for the two women, and they hadn’t been fishing in at least a month. But she told Jason that if he still wanted to help when they got back, the fish would need to be gutted and cleaned. She did her best to hide the laughter when he stammered excitedly that ‘oh of course! Yeah, I’ll get Moss, we can definitely take care of that for you!’

 

It was good to see Amy with a crush. She teased her a little for it out on the water, but it was lighthearted and she was happy to see Amy grinning whenever she brought up the young man’s name.

 

They had settled well into the farm life. Amy had taken to Eric almost immediately and spent the time she had away from guard duty with him in the school house, or giving haircuts to the farm’s occupants.

 

Annette had moved the washer and dryer out of the main house once the Laundromat was functional, the machines she’d had weren’t the best and had been discarded at the dump out in town. She had some of the builders convert the small washroom into a mini salon, with a chair for cutting, and a sink for washing. It wasn’t state of the art, but they had what they needed for Amy to see to anyone who wanted a haircut for themselves and the kids. She was happy enough to use the skills she’d gotten from the Cosmetician school she’d gone to before.

 

Andrea had spent her first few weeks on the farm helping Anders out in the Laundromat, learning all of the new people as they came in to drop off or pick up their loads. She did guard duty, and relaxed when she could with a cup of coffee and a nice book. Two of the loft rooms in the Main Apartment had been set up with the books from Barnes & Noble, but those were mainly books on farming, construction, gardening, and anything else that could fit into the ‘reference’ category. Down on the main floor, bookshelves lined the walls in between the bedroom doors, filled with more recreational reading material.

 

Her connection with the old Gunny was instantaneous. The man had taken her under his wing, and often insisted at being involved in her weapons training when she was scheduled for that. She found herself looking forward to joining him in the mornings, hearing about his old war stories from the Corps and just taking a moment to breath. It was a peace she hadn’t really felt since before the walkers hit the first time, and she was happy to have it back.

 

Michonne was another welcome return for her. She had actually been the one to show Andrea around the farm after their arrival. Maggie came with to sort out clothing and supplies, but was grateful Michonne was there to take over. They still had that new haul they were sorting, and she was needed on-site for that.

 

And it had been Michonne to suggest the Laundromat for a place to start. She told Andrea she needed to take a beat when her first reaction was to balk at the idea. She needed to get settled into the farm life, she’d said. Learn how to contribute, and get some training in on the weapons. Andrea might be able to fire a gun, but how was her hand-to-hand? What about knife skills, and sword work, and the crossbow?

 

She had nodded and accepted the suggestion, saying she’d try.

 

By the end of the first week of fulltime work, Andrea had been exhausted. She found the work in the Laundromat kept her busy for most of the day, including breaks for meals, and was constantly surprised that the call for closing kept sneaking up on her. Hours having passed without her noticing.

 

The rotation for guard duty always meant a delayed start or excused absence from the work shift. But its seamless integration into her routine helped her to see that every minute of the day, and even the hours she spent sleeping at night were valuable. They all had work to do, everyone on the farm. And it was all interconnected. If one piece didn’t work, it would throw off the next, and the next like a domino effect.

 

She never complained to Michonne afterwards, and gave her a small smile and nod when her friend came in one day to pick up a load of their clothes. Michonne had raised her eyebrows at Andrea, and looked around the building at the in-use machines. Andrea was glad to assure her that she was happy where she was. Even though the woman _had_ kicked her ass in training the day before.

 

With her days being so packed, she and Amy hadn’t had much time to spend together, so the task of gathering fish for the evening meal was a welcome break. Their first hour on the water was interrupted by Havoc crashing into the water from the shore, scattering the ducks and creating ripple waves for their boat.

 

She watched as Rick and Daryl left Caroline with Carl and Merle, and left for a walk around the dirt path that surrounded the big lake. The two of them being together was not something she had ever thought was a possibility when she knew them the first time, but there was no denying the bond they had when she watched them lately. It was good. They were a good match, with Daryl being more involved in the group activities, less hostile, and Rick lighting up with happiness whenever he caught sight of the other man.

 

Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought the farm would have made the changes it had. Sometimes, as she looked over the land, she tried to recall how it had been before. It was hard to look at the land behind the main house and not see cabins. And it was hard to look at the fences and imagine nothing but trees.

 

She steered the boat away from the disruption on the shore and found some shade from the trees to settle in. This was a good life. Amy was happy, Andrea was happy, they had an established community to support. Yeah. This was good.

 

It wasn’t until a few months later that she had been scheduled to go out on a raid with Michonne’s team. There was another strip closer to King County a couple hours away that they wanted to hit. It had a small dental clinic that Jenny was excited about, along with a Walgreen’s, a bakery, and a consignment store. There was a domino’s there as well that they all decided wouldn’t be worth it, but across that street was a small veterinarian clinic that Seth and Hershel had been happy for. They wanted one of the exam tables for grooming and treatment, not to mention the drugs the place would have.

 

She had prepared for this trip, feeling better than she ever had in terms of strength after the training her friend had put her through. With the mornings getting colder, she dressed in layers and quickly readied herself to head to the East Gate with the rest of the crew.

 

David and Patricia were meeting them at the gate with thermoses of hot coffee and food for the trip, while Annette stayed behind to finish up breakfast for the rest of the farm. Annette had mentioned on more than one occasion that the main house’s kitchen was just not equipped for such a large group without constant manning. She wanted a bigger kitchen, something Antonio wholeheartedly agreed with.

 

Antonio had come up from Atlanta with Guillermo’s crew. And while he had been content to work with the builders, he had spent years working in the kitchen of a very busy restaurant. Hell, he had a degree from a culinary institute. When Annette found out, she slapped the man on the arm and said she and Patricia could do with a day off every now and then. He still worked with the builders primarily, but would devote two days out of the week to taking over the kitchens so the women could have a rest.

 

The builders were getting very close to having their structures completed, with the kennel being the final addition, and Maggie was deciding on how and where to put up the new buildings. They needed the ability to lay concrete, which they had. But they also needed to have someone confident enough to do it. Mike had experience, but he was still reading up on it and said he needed more time to say if it was doable or not.

 

Andrea was standing next to the semi as she watched David and Patricia make their way up to the gate in a pickup truck. She really wanted that coffee. But the sound of the radio going off caught her attention immediately. There were people approaching the fence from the east road, right where she was.

 

Logically, she knew there had to be other survivors, and she felt it was reasonable to assume they’d see some today since they were going on a long run. But the farm was surrounded by a line of cars, and then a forest. If someone was at the East Gate, they came here deliberately.

 

She saw Glenn rush up into the guard tower, and then heard him on the radio shouting to ‘Open the gates, open the gates!’ Coming to the front of the convoy, she saw the gates slowly open to reveal Carol and a small group of people cautiously making their way inside.

 

When Carol spotted her, she gave Andrea a happy smile and slung her rifle down across her back. T-Dog, and then Jacqui, and then Dale were the next people she spotted. Her mouth open in shock and amazement as Lori came forward with Sophia and a baby. There was one face she didn’t recognize, but the happiness she felt at seeing her old group from the quarry brought tears to her eyes.

 

One look at Dale, and she knew he remembered too. She quickly made her way forward to hug him, completely losing any thoughts of the raid they were supposed to be headed out on.

 

Within the next several minutes, they were joined by David and Patricia as well as a few more cars bringing Rick and Carl, and Maggie and Hershel. Daryl came forward immediately and lifted Carol off the ground, moving on to do the same with Sophia.

 

“Let me look atch’u, girl,” he said as he knelt down in front of her. Carol had told Sophia before about how hard Daryl had searched for her, and the young girl threw her arms around him again thanking him and saying sorry over and over. Daryl just held her, letting her know it wasn’t her fault, but he’d be damned if she was going to be out there in those woods again any time soon.

 

The small group was happy to see the reunion, and Lori shifted a little as Daryl looked up at her and locked eyes on the baby she’d recently taken to calling Judith. If that’s what her son had named his sister, then she’d decided that was what her name would be.

 

He stood up from the ground, and cleared his throat a few times when Lori held the tiny baby out to him. Carol had survived longer than any of them, and in their last month at Grady, Lori had been voracious in her appetite for learning about what became of her family. She’d learned that the younger Dixon had stepped up and taken on the role of caregiver for both of her children after she passed and Rick lost himself to grief. Over the years, they had settled into a family unit. They’d flourished together and Carol had told her she couldn’t see one of them without thinking of the others.

 

Learning her husband had moved on was good. Lori had felt a slight twinge of jealousy the day Carol told her about that piece, but it had quieted down that night when Shane had come into their room for bed. It had been that night that she decided Shane would never touch her again. She’d been stupid, and naive, and selfish in the past. And she’d hurt her family.

 

Her ex-husband had a partner who took care of her kids, helped raise them to be strong. She wrapped her head around the fact that the man in front of her had been a parent to Judith for _years_ even though she was only an infant now. She saw him look at her baby with such emotion that she had tears coming down her face as she transferred Judith into his arms. Followed up by tearful laughter as he cradled her gently and cooed down at her.

 

Her son running up to her and burying his face in her side was one of the single most gut-wrenching moments of her life. She quickly lowered them to the ground, clutching at him with sobs coming out for all to hear.

 

Rick was flanked by Hershel and Maggie as they joined the group. He made his way over to Daryl and Judith, taking the small bundle and holding her close. He was still holding her as he greeted the others, giving one armed hugs and heartfelt welcomes.

 

The gate closed behind them as David passed out the coffee and food to the new arrivals. Andrea had a moment to mourn the loss of her morning coffee, but the joy from having her friends safe and on the farm quickly forced the thought from her mind. With the exception of Noah and Dale, the group decided they wouldn’t mind walking Main Street to get a feel for the place on their way to the Clinic.

 

It was a slow stroll, and it gave them time to discuss all of the changes they could see. The other communities they had been to all had makeshift fencing that had been clearly set up after the fall. The prison had been the only place that had an existing defensive structure.

 

Carol was amazed with the work and just kept repeating in a dead-pan fashion, “You did this in a month.”

 

Noah was going to be staying in the Clinic with Leslie for a bit. She wanted to get a look at his leg, and was cursing up a storm about negligent doctors leaving a mess for the rest of them to clean up. But the rest of the group was getting the grand tour.

 

Maggie had put her foot down on the raid. The supplies were needed, and the group would still be leaving that day. They had planned to spend the night in the neighboring county anyways, so a later start wouldn’t hurt the plans too much.

 

Soon enough, Andrea was saying goodbye to Dale and the others, and joined Michonne, Seth, Glenn, Aaron and Mike for the long haul.

 

Daryl and Morgan were going to join Carol and follow the convoy out to the gates, then bring the RV back to the farm to empty it. They could leave it in the line of cars out the West Gate when they were finished and have a small outpost if they ever needed it. Plus the small excursion will give Carol and Morgan a chance to talk and hash out any residual discontent. The two had ultimately ended up fighting for the same thing, but their relationship had always held a little animosity. And the farm had no place for that.

 

Rick had given Lori a small hug in greeting, and he was clearly happy she was there, but also visibly wary of her intentions. She had tried to explain that Carol had told her about the changes in Rick’s life, Daryl to be specific, and that she was happy for them. He nodded, but didn’t say anything, and she resigned herself to making him believe it over time. She really did want to see him happy, and she hoped that he would believe her someday. For now, she’d just have to show him she was sincere through actions.

 

Lori and Carol were both given a tour of the cabins they’d be moving into, and Jacqui and Dale had requested one for them as well. It wasn’t about a romantic relationship between them, but there was a bond they’d formed after Jacqui’s first timeline had extended. They were calm, positive influences in their group, and Hershel told them he could see that continuing on the farm. It was a shock to absolutely no one when Dale responded to Hershel and told them he'd been a Clinical Social Worker in the past.

 

When Merle finished up a shift on guard duty, he surprised the group by offering to help them with getting the cabins set up. Surprise was an understatement for all of them, but none more so than Lori. From everything Carol had told her about Merle, this man should not be trusted around the children. But she quietly took in the sight of Carl and Merle going back and forth in their debates about anything and everything under the sun, and caught herself smiling more than once at the happy bond the two seemed to share.

 

In the time Carol knew him, Merle had been a belligerent, abrasive, and crude asshole. Here, with Carl, Lori was seeing him to be an intelligent and funny man. His thoughts were clear in a way she wouldn't have thought they'd be if this was a drug addicted bigot. And it was Merle who stayed to help her set up in the cabin with a bassinette for Judith and plenty of food for the two of them. The cabin she was in happened to be one of the only single room ones left, and she later learned it was the same model as the one Rick and Daryl shared with their daughter Caroline.

 

And wasn’t that a surprise. Her son had another sister that he wanted her to meet. They had stopped into the main house just as the children were all arriving for the day, Amy and Beth taking the younger and children into the nursery area, while Eric corralled the older kids into the school and rec room. Sophia had been excited to see Carl again and was sticking close by him. But when she met Lily, the quiet girl had offered to share a beanbag with her, and Carol made a quiet comment to Lori about the two being best friends before the week was out.

 

Getting the three cabins set up, as well as T-Dog and Noah set up in their rooms in the Main Apartment took the majority of that first day. By the time Daryl declared the RV was ready for a run out the West Gate, the sun was sitting low and dinner was ready to be served in the second apartment.

 

Merle and Carl brought Judith down the cabin neighborhood streets to Rick and Daryl’s place to take Havoc on a quick walk and then head down to the rest of the farm. Lori stayed on the porch with Judith while the two walked up the street with the dog, staring out over the sunset hitting farm and creating a gold shine on the lake. She was still a little sore from the surgery. Not much, but a little. The walking had done her good though. Her muscles were tired, and she knew she’d sleep well tonight.

 

Selia and Maggie had joined them when they were gathering supplies earlier, with Maggie letting her know about the events each week would have: Monday’s were for planning at the Armory, Tuesdays and Fridays were trash days where a U-Haul would go around to each cabin to collect their garbage for a quick dump run out the West gate. Wednesdays were market days where the fields would bring in their produce for the kitchens and any of the cabins that wanted them, Saturdays were movie nights, and Sundays were schedule days where Maggie would hand out the duties assigned to each resident for the next week.

 

They had arrived on a Friday. It’d been a while since she had thought about what day of the week it was, and she kind of liked the structure of having it again. When Carl and Merle returned to put the dog inside with his own dinner, she was surprised again by Merle as he carefully settled Judith in his arms and joined them in their walk down Northwest Street for their meal.

 

She made a mental note to talk to Maggie sometime the next day to see where she could be added to the rotation. She would need a little time to recover from the birth, and she wanted to spend time with Judith for the next little while, but she felt a spark of excitement at the thought of immersing herself in the inner workings of the farm. Rick had been right before, these were good people.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing major, just a little more farm life for you.

Preparing for winter on the farm was in full swing even though it would be another month at least before the first frost hit. The fields and the last of the produce on the farm had been harvested. Otis had mentioned to Maggie one Monday that the surrounding fields could be useful to them. They had silos to store the grain, and they had the machinery to collect it, but there could also be machinery on those other farms that they could use.

 

There had been a constant scheduling of teams who went out, not on raids, but to clear the nearby areas of walkers. Daryl was the lead more often than not. He had spoken to Rick about the man joining him, having missed their efficiency when they worked together. Not that the others weren’t capable, and Merle usually insisted on heading out with him.

 

Still, Daryl jumped on any chance to go out the West Gate, or clear along the Eastern border of their territory. And that’s what it was. A territory. They kept it clear of any walkers they came across, and the outer barrier from the cars helped deter the walkers from the surrounding forest. But they occasionally found some in town, or out near the main roads and highways.

 

They always scouted first. Daryl had taken Milo and Miguel for his team. Both boys were nearing seventeen, and Daryl had worked with them extensively. He’d taken them out into the trees around the farm and taught them how to be silent and accurate. That was his word for them, accurate. Not fast, not slow, but they would need to be whatever the situation called for. If they were in the forest, and they were hunting, they might need slow. But if they were in town, and they were avoiding walkers, fast.

 

But always silent. Always accurate. They’d had other weapons training like swords with Michonne, and rifles with Gunny Anders and Seth. But the crossbow lessons from Daryl every Saturday was their favorite.

 

And they were good. It was their skill as much as their size that made Daryl take notice of them. They were quiet in the groups (with the exception of a smart comment here and there from Miguel), and they were good students.

 

Maggie had placed Seth and Gunny Anders in charge of physical conditioning a few months back, and Miguel had complained during the entire first run.

 

Each weekday morning the farms occupants would gather on the road outside of the apartments. Seth and Ember would wait till everyone arrived, before the sun was really up, and lead the group on a run of the perimeter road. The six on guard duty would be exempt, but rotations weren’t everyday anymore, so it was simply a day off of conditioning in exchange for pulling overnight duty.

 

The older crew, Dale, Annette, and Hershel joined as well, but they walked the length of the road instead of joining the run. While he was still recovering, Noah join them in the walk. They took breaks for the boy if he seemed to be hurting, and Dale insisted on having a radio on them in case his leg needed to rest and the truck would come pick him up.

 

But Noah had been visiting Leslie every week, and every week she was happier with how he was healing. He would be in pain for a while, but “The conditioning is good for you,” she told him. “I want you to push it a little when you think you’re ready.”

 

She was quick to describe the type of pain that would make her concerned, and had him promise that if he ever felt that, then he should have Dale radio in and stop walking. But it hadn’t come yet, and Noah was getting stronger.

 

The kids didn’t join. Of course the babies didn’t, but the older kids were exempt and two people, almost always including Beth, would stay behind with them until they were relieved after the group made the first circuit. Seth would take the other two out by himself for another lap. But Beth would often stop whenever they caught up to her father.

 

She was never admonished though, because when she stopped to join them, she would always grab Noah and the two would start a little faster of a pace, with Beth gently encouraging him.

 

Hershel and Annette would just smile and watch their daughter as she seemed bound and determined to become friends with the quiet boy. If they had to describe Noah’s reaction to Beth’s attention, they would say he seemed a little bashful, but happy.

 

Miguel and Milo were never more than two steps behind Daryl. Rick thought it was hilarious when his partner had first come to him about it. He hadn’t selected them to train yet, and he was confused by their interest. He’d pulled Daryl aside on the next run, choosing to set a slower pace to see what happened. They ended up in the back of the group, trailing behind.

 

Sure enough, when Daryl glanced behind him the boys were back there. His alarmed ‘what the fuck?’ had Rick dropping out to the side, laughing so hard he had a cramp.

 

After that morning though, Daryl began training the boys. When they were both able to return from a hunt in the nearby trees with rabbits and squirrels, he took them into town. He took over the trash runs, wanting them to have as much exposure as possible on the West side, before finally taking them on a clearing run to the East.

 

Rick joined them on the boys’ first trip, as did Guillermo and Rosita. They had both seen walkers before, but there had always been someone to handle it for them. This time, the group was able to ease them into a kill, which they expected, but also put some of that endurance training to work when a group of nearly two dozen showed up.

 

They had learned that the crossbow was a distance weapon, but if the aim was good, it could still be used in close quarters, or as a bludgeoning tool. But knives were useful too. Milo seemed to particularly like the knives, and Rosita couldn’t keep the happiness from her face as her younger brother emerged from the ‘battle’ covered in filth, but perfectly fine.

 

Miguel had gone for higher ground (top of a truck) and had picked off the walkers in the small herd that hadn’t reached his friends yet.

 

Daryl told them both that he was proud. Their ‘graduation’ didn’t stop them from keeping up with the hunting and the trash duties with Daryl, but it had given Maggie an idea on how to introduce the _civilians_ to their new reality.

 

She’d visited Rick and Daryl one night soon after that clearing run. Caroline was having a tough time getting down and had still been out in the living room with them when Maggie knocked on the door. But she was lying face down on the couch with Havoc occasionally nudging her body, just checking in.

 

She didn’t react as Daryl welcomed Maggie inside, and Rick gently picked her up to carry her to the back room.

 

“She’s been fussy all night,” Daryl explained in a quiet voice. There were toys all over the floor and he started collecting them in a basket as they walked. “Lori had Judith over with Carl,” he continued. “Soon as they left, she started goin’ off.”

 

“Well she’s a sweet girl,” Maggie told him around a grin. “Can’t be sunshine and roses all the time though.” She kept her voice low as Rick returned to the main room, this time sans baby and dog. Havoc had taken to sleeping on the floor in front of Caroline’s crib, and they’d picked up another dog bed from storage so he’d have a comfortable place to sleep.

 

“We have a lot of people here who aren’t used to this life.” Maggie said from her spot on the leather Starbucks chair as Rick settled on the couch beside Daryl. She had her notebook with her, as she always did, but it was closed in her lap as she talked.

 

“What you did with those two boys is something I think we need.” She was watching intently, and Daryl frowned in confusion.

 

Rick smiled, already having a feeling where this was going, and knowing Daryl might not be happy. “You want an initiation.”

 

“Sort of,” Maggie confirmed with a nod. “I want them to get the training, then go on small runs, then face walkers.”

 

Daryl glance over to Rick, then back to Maggie. “So why’re you tellin’ us?” He was tired, and Caroline’s screaming earlier hadn’t helped.

 

Rick slid an arm around his lower back, “She wants you to lead them.” Daryl’s head shot back up but he didn’t comment.

 

Maggie smiled gently and explained that what he had done with the boys was amazing. They were both strong contributors in the community, and she wanted to model the experience for the others after how he’d slowly acclimated them to the world beyond the gates.

 

“This is just a quick stop tonight to see what you think.” She was still smiling at Daryl, and to be honest, he didn’t see the point of telling her no.

 

“Alright,” he nodded back. “If that’s what you think they need.” He’d never had a problem with Maggie taking the lead in these kinds of decisions.

 

Their group had so many people who were qualified to lead, Rick had done a decent job the last time. But there were many nights where Rick would quietly tell him about the things he would have done differently. And Daryl knew that the guilt he felt over ‘leading them wrong’ still plagued the man.

 

The farm didn’t operate under one leader. It was more of a council that sat at the big oak table in the Armory. But if they had to single someone out, if they had to point their finger at one person and say ‘This. This is the person who makes the final call.’ It was Maggie.

 

The rest still had autonomy, but the big calls, the schedules, the raids… all of it went through her.

 

Maybe it was because everyone was busy keeping up with their own tasks, and filling their days being useful. Maybe it was because these people here were all aware eventually that some of them had already lived through it once and knew a little more about what wouldn’t work. Either way, everyone on the farm had settled under the current leadership without grumbling.

 

Rick and Daryl knew they were lucky. They’d come across enough settlements the first time around that they understood infighting could destroy the community faster than the walkers or outside groups. They hadn’t found any other survivors to take in after Carol’s arrival, but they were all wary of adding an unknown personality into the mix.

 

Daryl wouldn’t say he was exactly comfortable being the one in charge of leading this particular training, but after Maggie saw herself out, he discussed it with Rick some more.

 

They turned off the lights, checking on Caroline one last time, and headed upstairs to change and drop into bed. Daryl settled back and let Rick slide over next to him to settle in. They tried to get some time in for each other most nights if they were both here. But the day had been long, and it was late enough that when Rick started to run a hand through Daryl’s short hair, he knew he’d be out in minutes.

 

Stretching his head down, he grabbed Rick’s face for a soft kiss, then relaxed back into the pillows and pulled the hand back to his hair for more. It wasn’t petting. And Daryl would punch anyone who said so. It was just that the soothing repetitions felt nice.

 

The next morning was a Saturday, and after a full morning of weapons training, Daryl met Maggie in the Armory to continue her plans for the training set up. Rick was taking a team out with Otis to one of the nearby fields to harvest the wheat they had. They took the flat bed and loaded the Combine, as well as several fuel cans.

 

Otis knew there was a grain truck on the farm they were headed to, and Hershel already had the auger. While the other’s trained, they’d taken a truck and done a quick sweep of the farm. Rick had been amazed at the amount they’d be able to harvest.

 

He’d told Maggie on the radio that they should think about getting some kind of fencing up around this land. They had more than enough wheat to last them the winter, and then some. They also had vegetables growing in another plot. It was a goldmine, and Rick didn’t even try to hide his enthusiasm from Otis when he told the man it was one of the best finds yet.

 

They hadn’t seen any walkers the first time, but Rick had insisted on bringing extra bodies for the harvest. They took extra trucks, the cars all having been switched out for diesel powered trucks, and kept up a running perimeter while the machine worked in the field.

 

It was a good idea since Hank had to take down three walkers who stumbled out of the tree line, having been attracted to the sound of the Combine.

 

They returned about an hour before sunset and off-loaded their haul directly into the silo. The wheat was likely mostly dry, but the silos had been designed to allow even drying just in case. It meant the use of propane, which the farm was moving away from as Glenn and Tyler made headway with the solar panels. But the group had kept an eye out for any fuel trucks in their travels and had a stockpile sitting in the Northern field.

 

They didn’t want to set them along the perimeter, the thought being that all it would take was a few stray bullets, and bye-bye fence. But the northern field wasn’t in use and a structure could be built to house the trucks eventually. For now, they were fine in the open space.

 

Eventually, Maggie wanted everything off propane and diesel except the farm equipment. At this point, it was a finite resource. If they set up the farm relying on it, eventually they’d run out. They expected generations on this farm. And they didn’t want to set something up if it wasn’t sustainable.

 

The batteries for the solar panels would last a good 30 years each, at least. And they had enough batteries and panels from the raid that she wasn’t worried on that front. But the fuel systems still had her worried.

 

Hershel had done his own research on the Amish way, and Maggie documented everything, but she wanted the fuel while it was still usable.

 

The evening meal held in the second apartment that night was a lively affair, with the excitement from the neighboring farm’s harvest giving everyone a reason to celebrate. After a cleanup and wash of the dishes, accomplished quickly with so many people pitching in, the majority of the group settled into the main apartment for movie night.

 

They typically ran two movies, with the first being for the kids (tonight was The Lion King), and then another after the kids were put to bed, with the parents returning if they had babysitters. Sometimes some of the folks from the Nursing Home stayed for the second movie, but more often than not, Felipe and Raul took them back to settle in for the evening.

 

Maggie, Selia, and Glenn held back though, as did Hank and Morgan. They sat Annette and Antonio down at one of the now empty tables and pulled out a large sketch pad that already had the buildings layout drawn.

 

Selia pulled out her tablet and brought up some pictures for Annette to look at. Cell service was a thing of the past by now, but the teams usually kept at least one phone charged and on their person to take pictures while they were out. When they got back, Selia would take the phones and download all of the images into the apple desktop they’d acquired from a Best Buy run, as well as a portable hard drive.

 

The pictures they showed to Annette and Antonio were a restaurant one of the teams had been to. The place was fairly new, and while the kitchen had been used, it was still in very good condition.

 

They small group spent a while that night sketching out what Annette thought they would want from the restaurant (everything), and where to place it in the building. Originally, Annette had wanted a separate building for a kitchen, but Maggie explained that this one already had the hookups they would need, and the center floor could be converted into a kitchen with the tables for dining that were already here.

 

The building was already heated, had plumbing, water, and electricity, and was quickly decided upon. They sketched up the placement of everything, with Morgan and Hank as the lead builders making the final call on whether it would work.

 

The minor construction needed for the conversion would happen in the winter, but Antonio was excited to have a proper kitchen again. They were building walls around the back side of the kitchen area in a horse shoe fashion, with another wall on the other end that would only come up to counter height. Behind the kitchen was a small couch area before the long sideways hall that led to the bathrooms and the stairs. In front of the kitchen were the tables.

 

So far, they’d been using picnic tables, but Mike was building long dining tables and benches from their hauls at one of the Lowes stores they’d raided.

 

The activity would see some of them through a good part of the winter away from the cold weather. Maggie knew they had about another month, maybe two, to see a few more raids out before the weather turned. Without the Georgia DOT sanding and salting the roads, they were too risky if they iced over. Plus, the colder weather and stress of a raid might lead to sickness in the farm that she’d rather avoid.

 

They’d gathered enough supplies for the dogs in the kennels, as well as Ember and Havoc to be covered, and enough feed for the animals was stored in the barns behind the silos. The animal facilities each had heating that Guillermo and Merle were wiring in after Glenn and Tyler set up the solar panels on the roof. The team of four had been tasked with converting the living facilities for the humans first, then the animals. They were almost finished down in the stable, but Maggie had no doubt they could have it all finished soon.

 

There was a lot of work that went into winter preparations, and some work that would need to be maintained throughout. But she felt, all things considered, that they were ready.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because it's what I would do...

When the cabins were being built, back before the outbreak, Glenn and Tyler had learned from the electricians about wiring a structure and installing solar panels. But they weren’t the only ones learning. The cabins, and almost all of the other structures had needed plumbing set up.

 

While their group didn’t have anyone with official certification, they had people like Hank and Crowe, shadowing the activity of digging into the ground, taping a well, installing a septic system, and running the pipes into the buildings.

 

The workers hadn’t minded much, but would occasionally ask if they were some kind of survivalist compound. Crowe smiled when they did, and told them the Greene County Sheriff’s Office was just expanding their Academy and department, and needed the land for training purposes. No one really questioned it. After all, they were being paid to work and work quickly.

 

So while not experts, Hank and Crowe had some working knowledge on what it would take to set up a new structure. This was convenient for them, because Maggie and Selia had added Jacqui to their team for farm management. The three women had plans for new buildings, and those buildings were going to need plumbing.

 

The kitchen had already been decided on. It wouldn’t take a new structure, but they needed that set up before anything else. Annette and Patricia had been right when they said the one kitchen in the farmhouse was not efficient for this many people.

 

Antonio had been helping them where he could, but he was in the second wave of Daryl’s training regimen, along with Selia. Daryl had insisted on only two at a time, liking the amount of attention he could give them. A bigger team, to him, meant that he might be distracted with one trainee, and another wouldn’t get the oversight they needed.

 

The fact that they had Jacqui was a huge win, and allowed Selia to take time away from the ‘office’ for a few weeks to train with the hunter. Antonio was decided on as a second because Maggie wanted him on the run for the restaurant. They would house the haul in the Storage building until it could be moved into the new kitchen, but she didn’t want the farm to have to wait through the whole winter to have it finished. The sooner that kitchen was functional, the better Annette and Patricia would feel. Antonio too.

 

The group had emptied a Grainger warehouse in one of the recent raids with the intention of pulling in a haul to support future construction. And the warehouse did deliver on that, but it had a whole section on security that Seth had jumped on. During the unloading of the semis, he and Daryl had pulled any two-way radios to the side, and quickly discovered the throat microphones and earbud kits.

 

After that day, all of the members leaving the farm wore those radios to make it easier to stay in contact with their teams and keep their hands mostly free. Plus, no one had to worry about dropping their radio if they were surprised by a walker, which had happened more than a few times.

 

Daryl felt the two were ready after a few intense weeks of work, and took them on the trash runs with the boys. They hardly ever ran into walkers at the dump, or even in the old town out to the west, but occasionally there would be a few stragglers.

 

Seth was gearing up for a run to the Oconee Humane Society for a last stock up on pet supplies before winter. The farm had enough, but he wanted to go just in case. Although the thought of seeing the animals in the cages, dead or eaten was not something any of them were excited about.

 

Daryl signed the two trainees up for the run, and the four of them set out from the East Gate on a Wednesday morning. They took one U-Haul, and were pulling up to the small facility within the hour.

 

Seth and Daryl were silent in the cab as they took in the small building. There were boards on the windows. Boards meant survivors. They backed the truck up and parked down the street, using binoculars to watch the place after explaining to the two in the back what was happening.

 

Not ten minutes later Daryl caught movement in his mirror. They saw a young girl, maybe early twenties running up the street past their truck. She didn’t seem to notice that the truck didn’t belong there, instead focusing on running towards the animal shelter. She had a pretty big bag slung over her shoulders, and the weight must not have been displaced properly, because as she twisted for a quick look behind her, the bag shifted to the side and she went tumbling to the ground.

 

Daryl and Seth watched as she got back up, and immediately recognized that the girl had hurt her ankle pretty bad. She wasn’t putting weight on it, and they knew running would be hard for her.

 

Movement out of Seth’s mirror caught his attention, and he scrambled to open the door with an “oh shit,” under his breath. Daryl climbed out the passenger side, coming to the back of the truck and getting Selia and Antonio out just as the closest of the seven walkers were reaching them.

 

These weren’t the first walkers the two newbies had taken down. But it was the first time they had been faced with a group of them. The four of them backed up the street to try and spread them out. They were doing well, but Daryl looked further up the street and saw what Seth must have seen. It was a herd.

 

If the walkers had functioning brains, Daryl would almost think the seven that had come for them first were a scouting group. Antonio and Selia had each taken down two of the cluster, and Seth made quick work of the remaining three as Daryl reached over to the girl. They had backed up to her by then, and Daryl slung his crossbow on his back as he grabbed her arm to lift it over his shoulders.

 

She didn’t protest. She had obviously seen the same herd they had. Hell, she’d been running from them.

 

“In there,” she said and nodded back to the animal shelter. The structure didn’t look like it could hold up against a herd, but the walkers were about to reach the U-Haul. They weren’t going to have much of a choice.

 

Antonio and Selia retreated closer to Daryl and the girl, but Seth advanced toward the herd. He shot two walkers that had been closest to the driver’s side door and climbed in the truck, throwing it into drive. Through the comms he told them to get in the building, that he would take the truck and lead them away. Once they passed, he’d gun it and loop back around to meet them.

 

They made it the twenty or so feet to the door, Antonio picking up the girls other side, and Selia stabbing the few walkers as they reached them. Once inside the door, they could hear the herd trying to break in, but then they heard the sound of the U-Haul’s horn blaring. It was growing steadily more distant as the minutes went by, like a demented ice cream truck, and the scratches on the door were becoming less and less forceful as the attention of the walkers was redirected from their location.

 

Daryl looked around the room and saw that while the outside of the building looked a little flimsy, the inside walls were made of cinderblocks. The windows were boarded on the inside as well as out, some of them having heavy furniture moved in front to block them.

 

The girl, Samantha they learned after Selia introduced herself, was testing her ankle and wincing every time she tried to stand on it.

 

“Here, let me see that,” Daryl said as he dropped his bag on a nearby desk and cleared a spot for her on top. He helped her up and pushed the jeans up and away from her foot while Selia rifled through his bag for a cold pack and bandages.

 

They all had a small kit in their bags for first aid. It wouldn’t treat everything, not like what was in the U-Haul, but it was enough to hopefully get them back to the truck or to the farm in case they were injured. And Samantha was definitely injured.

 

Daryl looked down at the swollen joint as he carefully took off her boot. She hissed in discomfort but otherwise stayed silent.   “S’it just you here?” he asked her.

 

She’d been quiet but trusting up until now. It still didn’t seem like she was afraid of them, but she tensed a little, watching Daryl closely as he worked on wrapping her ankle as gently as he could, securing the cold pack to the area with the bandages.

 

“Why?” She asked back, voice neutral. “Are you looking for a place to stay?”

 

Daryl gave a smirk for half a second while he finished off the taping, rolling her jeans back down and stepping away. Selia was watching Samantha, but Antonio was watching the hunter. He knew that they’d taken in other survivors the last time, Daryl had been sure to tell those stories during training. He’d told them that sometimes people can seem really nice at first, but they’ll take advantage of a group in a heartbeat.

 

And there were others who didn’t look like they’d ever be a good idea. Sometimes those were the people who would end up being right by your side till the end. Someone who, no matter what, would always have your back.

 

Daryl had told them to go with their instincts. To listen to that tiny voice, deep down. If they felt like they were in a room with a predator, they probably were. When Selia looked at the girl, sitting with her legs still up on the table, she didn’t see a predator. She saw a young girl who should look a lot more scared than she was… and if she looked closely, she could see how Samantha was still tense. She looked calm enough, but it was there.

 

The quick shift of the eyes. Not often, but enough if you were watching for it. The breathing that was too controlled to be easy. The girl had been alone. Or had she? She’d never answered. Either way, she’d found herself in a room with three strangers and another on the way. And she was adapting. Instead of freaking out, she was rolling with the changes.

 

When Selia looked at her, she saw a survivor. “We have a place,” she told her. Partly to answer her question, and partly to test the waters. Daryl and Antonio both looked over at her. Antonio was frowning, but Daryl just tilted his head in thought then gave a tiny nod and looked away.

 

Samantha nodded but didn’t say anything. She didn’t ask about their place, or the size of their group. After a few minutes of silence, Selia took out her phone and opened the camera app. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the cell signal’s been down for a while,” Samantha told her with a bemused look.

 

“It’s not for a call,” she said as she took a few snaps of the room, and one of Samantha. It was only after she’d put her phone away that she did another visual sweep of the room. It didn’t looked lived in. Samantha had clearly been heading here when the walkers were following her, but there was nothing in the room that said she’d ever been here before now. Except for the boards on the windows.

 

She shook her head and looked over to Antonio as he called into Seth for an update. He didn’t get an answer. Daryl and Selia both tried as well and got nothing. They were getting a little antsy with the prolonged radio silence, and after about twenty minutes of waiting they opened their packs to take in a little food and water.

 

Daryl noticed Samantha eyeing his water, and she made no move to go into her own bag even though they’d made sure she had it nearby. He pulled another bottle out and offered it to her. It was the first Selia had seen of a break in the girl’s façade. She snatched the bottle quickly, then looked a little sheepish about the desperation. Daryl told her not to worry about it, they had more if she wanted it.

 

She nodded quickly and Antonio moved to set his extra bottle next to her. While she downed the one Daryl gave her, she didn’t touch the other one. Selia figured she could be saving it for later, but was suddenly distracted as Seth came on the line. He was hushed as he told them he’d parked down the street again and was doing a check around the building.

 

Several things happened at once after that. The sound of a dog letting out one quick bark, Samantha trying to hurl herself off the table, Daryl rushing forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

 

Another bark had Samantha trying to get loose from Daryl and head to the steel door in the back of the room that had a table pushed in front of it.

 

Right then, as Antonio was pulling out a knife, Selia realized the girl hadn’t been alone after all. There were others in her group and they were behind that door.

 

“Come to the front,” she heard Daryl say right before he told Antonio to go open the door for Seth. She’d pulled her crossbow in front of her and aimed it at the back door while Daryl supported Samantha and tried to move the desk one handed.

 

Seth came into the room, did a quick sweep and joined Daryl in the back to take the other side as Antonio came up to offer Samantha a body to lean on.

 

With the door unblocked, Samantha insisted on moving closer and started calling through the metal “Jessie, it’s me. It’s Sam. Can you unlock the doors?” She sounded worried, almost like she was talking to a child.

 

As it turned out, she kind of was. Behind the door was a young girl, maybe a teenager, maybe just under. The girl was dirty and a little shy at seeing the rest of the group, but noticeably happy to see Sam. And she wasn’t alone. The back of the animal shelter was just that, an animal shelter. They found twelve dogs in their kennels along with eight cats. The far wall had stacks of food for the animals and two cots set up for the girls. There were some blankets and pillows that had obviously been brought here after the outbreak, and stacks of canned food in a corner with a small camping grill.

 

Other than that, they were alone. It turned out Jessie was Sam’s little sister. Seth asked her where their parents were, and they discovered that it had just been them and their father. Sam was seventeen, though she looked older. She had been working at the shelter over the summer to try and save money so she could get her and Jessie out of their father’s house as soon as she turned eighteen. He wasn’t a very pleasant man to be around after their mother died, and she had started to feel uneasy about leaving Jessie alone with him.

 

Jessie had woken up one morning remembering her sister hadn’t come home the night before, and she remembered her father breaking her door down and biting her throat out. Samantha hadn’t remembered anything, and when her sister told her about her dream, she insisted on Jessie coming with her to the shelter to ‘volunteer’ as she worked.

 

When everything started to go down, the rest of the staff just left. They left the animals alone, and Jessie was already freaking out. So Sam had blocked the doors and shut the two of them in the kennels in the back. She and Jessie had moved the cat kennels into the room, and with the only windows being a small row at the top of the side walls, they had been safe for the worst of it.

 

About a week, maybe two of not hearing anything moving outside, and needing to dump the waste from the animals outside the building instead of the front office, Sam had ventured out. She broke into the nearby houses and cleaned them out on food and supplies, occasionally running into a walker. She’d learned pretty fast that the head was the only way they were going to stay down, and made a spear from a mop handle.

 

She’d dropped it when she was running from the herd. It had been the first time she’d seen a group that big and the terror had taken over, telling her to _run._

 

“We have a farm,” Seth told her. He was walking along a row of cells where the dogs were kenneled, looking them over. They were all in decent shape, with several of them looking less than a year old. He was impressed that they were all staying mostly silent while he did a walk through. The girls must have taught them to survive as well. “We can take you and Jessie now, come back for the animals.”

 

But she refused to leave them. They’d always had someone here with them to keep them quiet. What if they started making noise and the herd came back?

 

Daryl pulled out the handheld radio they used to communicate with the farm and called in for another two U-Hauls. He left to the front office to tell Crowe about the survivors and the animals, and the herd. It was headed away from the farm, but they could never be sure.

 

Rick was on one of the teams that met them a little while later. They’d slimmed down to three man teams in each truck, but with the additional bodies they had the dogs and cats loaded in travel crates and inside in just over a half hour. As the girls were doing a last walk through to make sure they had everything they wanted, and the animal food was emptied out, Rick pulled Daryl aside.

 

“We passed a car on the way here,” he whispered to him, keeping a tight grip on his arm. “Van with white crosses on the back windows.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the thing about my impulse control.... sometimes I don't have it. I've always hated cliffhangers, especially if I have to wait to find out what happened.... 
> 
> I already had notes on this, but I wanted to see the scene for myself, so after I woke up and got my coffee, I sat down with the laptop and started writing. 
> 
> All of that to say... Enjoy! 
> 
> Also, I feel no remorse for the way this turned out... js.

Rick knew where that van had come from. Daryl had told him about the bridge, and they were all aware the Grady cops used the white crosses to mark their vehicles. They pulled out a map and did a quick reroute to avoid the section of the road it had been on.

 

What had Rick a little worried was the fact that it had been parked so close to the farm. It was at the edge of the lines of cars, but far enough away that he knew it wasn’t one of the vehicles they’d set up for the barrier. The driver’s seat had been empty, but there could’ve been people in the back.

 

Moss had joined the two extra teams that brought the U-Hauls for the move, and as they approached the outer gate he jumped out to unlock it. Rick and Daryl were in the lead truck, and even with Daryl hanging out the window, they couldn’t see far enough down to tell if the van was still there. A quick radio in let the guards know to open the gates.

 

The nearly three mile road inside the barrier up to the gate sucked to walk, but a car or truck could make the trip quickly. Once inside the fence, they turned everything over to Maggie and Seth to get settled, and prepared for another trip out to check on the van. Kyle and Merle grabbed weapons as well to back them up, but before they split off from the welcoming committee, Ember let out one sharp chirp and took off for the Northeast fence line.

 

Seth had immediately turned away from the two new girls and the new animals, watching as Ember zeroed in on a section of the fence that didn’t have a shipping container in front of it. She didn’t bark again, just paced back and forth along that spot. When she sat down and looked back over towards the group, Seth took off.

 

He still had his radio on and called into the others to get teams on the wall, something was coming. Daryl radioed into Crowe that they needed support as Maggie, Jacqui, and Selia stopped the off-loading and drove the U-Hauls across Main Street to the west side. They passed two trucks on their way, each with people who had scrambled to assist. She noticed one was being driven by Andrea with Miguel and Milo in the back.

 

More were headed out by the time they stopped. Abe and Rosita helped get the girls inside the Main Apartment, then returned to unload the animals into the second apartment.

 

With the exception of the guards and runner already on duty, the rest of the residents were a flurry of activity. Maggie and Crowe handed out weapons, and directed them to the positions where they could do the most good for now. They sent out two more pickups to run perimeter routes, with the trucks dropping people off at different containers along the fence to supplement the guards.

 

While they had the entire farm covered in a 360, the only action came from the east.

 

Seth and the guard tower were the first to see the movement from the trees. Daryl had joined Seth on the container, while Rick was still down on the ground directing the others. They watched as five people, dressed in black with rifles across their chests came into the clearing.

 

Daryl wasn’t surprised in the least when Shane and Dawn were among them. Lori had told them that Shane had bonded with the cops there, and when Rick told him about the van, he figured he’d be seeing the man sooner or later. Shane was the only one of the Grady cops who knew about the farm being here, so he had to assume the man was in charge of them now.

 

Merle was in the guard tower across the road from where the group had come out of the woods, but he had a clear shot and offered to take it. While they were getting ready to go out, he’d taken Selia’s radio and given Antonio’s to Rick.

 

Rick was running up the stairs to the tower, telling Merle to wait and grabbing his own rifle from the cache. Setting up next to Merle, he looked through the scope at the group of five. Morales was with them, Dawn, Shane and two others Licari and Gorman.

 

Dawn and Shane were both steady in their behavior, almost cocky. But the other three were shifting around nervously. The size of the fence and the rapidly growing defense on top of the containers and guard tower shaking their confidence.

 

“You shouldn’t be here, Shane,” Rick called down to them. The entire group looked his way, Dawn and the other three swinging their guns up and pointing them at the tower. “You should take your people and go while you still can.”

 

Daryl watched as Shane smirked. Hands on his hips, head tilted. He knew he could take the shot with his crossbow from here. It would be quick, head shot over and done with. But he waited on Rick’s say so.

 

“You know that can’t happen Rick,” Shane said as he squinted up at the top of the fence. “You’ve got something of mine in there."

 

“I’ve got movement in the trees,” Jason’s voice came over the walkie-talkies. The ex-firefighter was posted on the Northeast corner guard tower. There was nothing around him but forest, and the barriers had held so far. If he had anything, Rick figured it was more of Shane’s group.

 

“Lori’s staying here, Shane. So is her baby.” Rick shouted down. If he could get through to Shane, maybe the small group could live. But if Shane had more people surrounding the farm, it wasn’t looking good for them. They didn’t have the high ground, and the farm had more than enough weapons to slaughter the entire group of Grady survivors if they were all here.

 

“Yeah, that’s not happening. That’s my baby in there,” Shane’s words could be taken as a man who just wanted his child back, but the smug tone ruined their effect. Did he honestly not see how outnumbered they were?

 

Rick watched as the three unsure members of the group seemed to be talking amongst themselves. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Dawn could as she told them to shut their mouths and stand their ground. Rick could hear that just fine.

 

Carol had come out to the tower landing beside Rick and looked down at the group. “Morales, you should leave.” She had her own rifle pointed at them, but her words were as kind as they could be for someone having to nearly shout. “It’s the only way you make it out of this.”

 

“Shut up, bitch!” Dawn shouted up at her and took aim. Daryl quickly transferred is own aim from Shane to Dawn and fired. She was dead in seconds from the head shot. The other three raised their rifles, but weren’t firing. They had shifted over to the road and took a few steps back.

 

Shane was furious though. He raised his gun and fired toward the fence as he backed up into the trees for cover.

 

“It’s walkers” T-Dog shouted over a radio. “Walkers at the Northeast point!” He’d been in one of the extra trucks running the perimeter and had been closest to the tower when Jason radioed in the call for movement.

 

Carol looked up the line of the fence to the north, but they hadn’t spotted anything yet. It was a good distance from there to the East gate, so they had time, but she shouted down to Morales that they had walkers coming in. If he wanted to live he had to leave now.

 

Morales took off, but the other two stayed. They couldn’t see the walkers either, but were apparently freaked out enough to run to the gate and beg to be let in.

 

“That gate ain’t opening!” Daryl shouted from his spot on the container without looking away from the forest. Shane was still in there, just behind the first line of trees.

 

“There’s no walkers!” He shouted over to the two men as he fired another few rounds at the fence, just missing a bolt from Daryl. “It’s a trick to get you to leave.” Either they didn’t hear him, or didn’t care as they continued to pound on the metal in front of them.

 

“The gunshots are attracting them,” Jason told them over the radio. “At least twenty. Maybe more.” They must have found a weak point in the barrier and slipped through. Jason and T-Dog said they’d take care of what they could, but the walkers were in the trees and it was hard to get a good head shot.

 

There were other sentries set up on the some of the containers along the fence line who reported the same problem. The walkers were making their way south, and while they could see them in the trees, they were too well covered for a good shot.

 

Rick shouted down to the three men that they’d be here any minute, and that they really needed to start running. But they stayed where they were.

 

Shane was the first to get hit. He’d stepped out to fire at the fence again, this time aiming for the tower, and didn’t hear the approach from behind. Daryl took the headshot as a walker bit into Shane’s shoulder, then another to drop the walker as it feasted. The two cops at the gate watched him go down and had started backing away into the woods, but heading further south into the forest.

 

They could hear shots being fired for a while as the two men made their way deeper and deeper into the forest. The small herd had already reached the gate, and while they were distracted by the gunfire, the group knew they couldn’t let them roam inside the barrier.

 

They had hours until nightfall, and while a lot of the supplemental guards remained on post up on the containers, Michonne, Merle, and Carol joined Daryl and Rick to do a sweep of the forest.

 

Miguel, Rosita, and Milo took a truck out the West gate to loop around and check on the barrier. The van that Rick had seen before had been used to ram into the line of cars along the northeast point of the territory. Rosita jumped out of the truck to climb into the van and move it into position to replace the car it had knocked off the side of the road.

 

The van was shot in terms of being able to be used for anything, but it was still running well enough to work it into the line. The boys took down the walkers milling about, but a quick look across the field on the other side of the road had their jaws dropping. There was a herd coming. They radioed into the farm to tell the others, and heard Seth coming in that he had led a herd away just that morning.

 

The field across the street was big, and the walkers coming out of the tree line were still far away and moving slow, but they just kept coming. From that distance, it looked like the forest was slowly encroaching on the field, expanding in a sea of bodies.

 

Rosita did a quick check of the back and found a full gas can and a few bags. She threw the bags out the front door, and grabbed the gas can on her way out. Miguel had already started throwing the bags into the back of the U-Haul as Milo finished off the three walkers still on the street. Rosita took out her cell phone and hit the video option to record what they were seeing from the field.

 

She handed it off to Milo as the three piled into the cab. The video was still running so Milo leaned over Miguel to get a good shot of the new barrier with the van as they took off.

 

The North road was clear on their way back, so was the west. Hershel told them it made sense after they were back on the farm, since the west road led to the small town that they’d spent so much time on. The East, however, led to the highway and bigger towns, not to mention Atlanta. He said he was honestly surprised it had taken the farm this long to see a herd this big.

 

The group from the forest had returned just before sundown. They had found the two cops, dead. But Morales must have made it out. They couldn’t be sure, but they thought they had cleared out the walkers from inside the barrier. Only time would tell, and the guards were all going to be doubled up for the night. If the herd made it inside the line of cars, they needed more people on the posts as fast as possible.

 

A team was set up to deal with the bodies as soon as they knew they were safe from the herd. For now most of them had been moved further down the forest road, about a mile from the fence.

 

Lori had been told before dinner about Shane and what had happened. She held Judith a little tighter, and thanked Daryl for keeping her daughter safe. Rick was more shocked than his partner at her reaction, but she told him that “after you and Carl left, he was different. He was put on unpaid leave from the department and was just so bitter about everything.”

 

She gave a sad smile as she told them about begging him to come to the farm when the outbreak happened. She wanted to be with her family, and Shane just kept saying that he was her family now. She could never prove it, but she thought he might have drugged her food because she’d been adamant that they head to the farm, and they had. But she passed out in the car, and woke up in a tent the next day at the Atlanta refugee center.

 

Shane had told her the roads to the farm were entirely blocked off. That there was no way they’d be able to make it. She’d believed him when the center was overrun, and she saw the size of the herd along the highways as they raced out of Atlanta, headed for the quarry. But now she was wondering if that had been true.

 

“He just changed so much,” she told them after Carl took Judith to get a bottle. “And once we were at Grady, the way those officers were with the rest of the people… I told him about it, but he said they were taking care of us so I shouldn’t complain.”

 

She looked around the dining area at the rest of the community, then shook her head. She wasn’t smiling this time. “He told me so many lies. I never guessed how much until Carol told me about knowing you. And knowing Maggie.”

 

She’d apologized to Rick often in her first couple weeks on the farm, and he’d told her she didn’t have to keep doing that. But she gave him a small look of regret across the table that he acknowledged with a nod.

 

Dale had taken her down to join him and Hershel on one of their walks of the southern border shortly after she had arrived at the farm. The two of them spent some time helping her work through her emotions about the last several months’ worth of experiences.

 

She was a mother to a son who was mentally an adult, and a new mother to a baby who needed her to be strong and attentive. She had hurt her ex-husband, a man who had spent years grieving her death in the last life, and she had to give it time to settle.

 

Hershel told her that Rick and Daryl were good men, the best they could ask for on the farm. They both knew that this world they were in would test a person to their limits, and sometimes the choices people had to make were unforgivable. They knew the big things from the small, and it wasn’t like them to hold a grudge over something like this.

 

The walks with the two men became a daily event for a couple of weeks. It helped Lori build her strength back up after the birth, and helped her move forward emotionally. She jokingly referred to their time as therapy, both for her physical and mental health.

 

It was also how she found her niche. One of the horses was pregnant, and as they were making a round along the fence line, Hershel mentioned he’d be spending the night in the barn. He expected the delivery any time now, and he offered for Lori to join him.

 

She’d mentioned it to Rick and Daryl over dinner, and they quickly agreed to take Judith for the evening. Caroline loved her and was thrilled that night when the tiny baby was put to sleep in her room. The two men never acted hostile toward her, they had their own family with Caroline, and they seemed to welcome her into the mix with Carl and Judith.

 

She talked about it with Dale the next morning, about how easy of a time they seemed to be giving her. He helped her to see that the only person who _did_ think she needed punishment was herself, and that she had to find a way to overcome the thoughts that said she wasn’t worth being forgiven.

 

From that night on, Lori spent most of her time shadowing Hershel or Otis with the farm animals. Chris was learning as well, and he had more time in his apprenticeship so he was often paired with Lori to manage the animals on their own when the older farmers couldn’t make it out.

 

It wasn’t easy work, and there was a lot of manual labor involved, but after a few weeks, Lori admitted this was the best she’d felt in a long while.

 

The walkers never ended up making it inside the barrier, and after a couple of days, they set up a burn pile for the bodies. Shane's was included. It wasn’t that she was angry over how he died, he had been trying to storm the gates to take Judith away.

 

But she and Rick both attended the burning. They still remembered the carefree boy they had known back in high school. If they mourned anything, it was the loss of that boy’s potential rather than the troubled man he had become.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... it's been a while. Classes, work and wild horses (no, literally, wild horses...) kind of took over for a while. 
> 
> This chapter had to come out, but be warned!!!! the only character from this story so far who will appear in this chapter is Seth, and I understand he's an original character and all... but I'm bringing in a few characters from another 'verse and Seth is my conduit. 
> 
> Little spoiler, if you haven't watched Justified, you need to go do that, real quick-like.

After stabbing a walker through the eye for the seventh time that morning, Tim Gutterson would not say he could honestly recommend Florida to anyone. Of course, that still would’ve been true if the world hadn’t ended, and walkers hadn’t take over Miami. So maybe he wasn’t the best judge of a place. Either way, he didn’t figure anyone was planning on doing any vacationing anymore.

 

He’d been working as a U.S. Marshall when he got a call from one of the men he’d served with during his time as a Ranger for the Army. Seth and Tim were their team’s snipers. Their friend Mark had been Tim’s spotter, and the two of them would usually be sent forward to set up and take out single targets at a time or scout for threats. Seth, on the other hand, was constantly embedded with the core unit and had his K9 Ember to partner with.

 

But the four of them became close during one of their tours in Kandahar. Any meals they were in the same place for were shared, and any sleeping to be had was done in the same spot with a rotating one-man watch. It was brutal sometimes, but it was life. And they kept each other sane for nearly a full year in Afghanistan.

 

Mark had been the most outgoing of the group. Seth and Tim could usually turn their brains off and play around, and Tim always had a sarcastic remark for any situation. But Mark was the joker. He’d seen something in Seth when the boy had first joined them about a month into the tour. And calling him a boy was about right. He’d been a kid, a little bravado and a lot scared. Not that Tim and Mark were old by any stretch of the imagination, but Seth was quickly accepted by the two as the little brother they never had.

 

After the Army and Marine Corps respectively, Tim had joined the Marshalls, while Mark and Seth were done with serving for a while. Neither resented their time, they were proud of their service, but they needed the quiet. Seth devoted himself to a solitary life and worked construction out in Georgia. He didn’t have any family out there, but that was because outside of Tim and Mark, he didn't have any family. Still, he’d grown up in a few foster homes in the state and he was familiar with the mountains.

 

Mark took a little bit of a different path. Their last trip over had left Tim with scars down the left side of his back, and Mark with a messed up leg after a roadside IED tossed their Humvee around. They’d lost men in the explosion, but Seth had grabbed Tim and pulled him from the wreck over to Mark and Ember, and set up a defensive position until help arrived.

 

The back side of Tim’s shoulder was shredded with blood steadily soaking his top, and he’d been knocked out by the blast. Mark fought through the pain of a nearly crushed leg just enough to help Seth put pressure on Tim’s wound. It took the better part of an hour for a medevac to pull them out, and another 24 hours for an aerovac from theater.

 

Seth thought he’d gotten through the event with minor shrapnel wounds, but during the initial evac they discovered a not-insignificant piece of metal lodged in his thigh that he would swear to this day he never felt. They came back from Afghanistan together and spent a while in Ramstein, Germany recovering before they were cleared to return stateside.

 

Mark never fully recovered from the residual pain his injury caused him, and if they had known what would happen in a few years’ time, both Tim and Seth would have ripped the oxy out of the nurse’s hand and flushed the pills down the nearest drain.

 

Within three months of being discharged from the Army, Mark was gone. Tim had already left the Army and was taking his first posting in Kentucky as a Marshall. Mark had come out to join him after he was released from active duty, but being close to Tim wasn’t enough to keep him from chasing the addiction to pain meds. He’d turn up every so often, but Tim and Seth had stopped expecting it to happen with any regularity.

 

Until one day, when he practically washed up on Tim’s doorstep to ask for help paying back a dealer he’d ripped off. He was clean, he said, and the VA had come through on a date for his surgery. It was scheduled for two weeks from that day, and he just needed the backup so he could go talk to the guy before the surgery.

 

Tim hadn’t wanted to trust it, but Mark did seem sober as they were leaving the dealers. He ushered Mark into his SUV and tossed his cell at him. “Call Seth. He should be in the recent call log.”

 

Mark did as he was told, and Tim noted the way his friend’s shoulders hunched down. Now that he looked at him, he noticed the fact that his friend had a bit of weight to put back on. He needed to get healthy. Before he could comment, the line connected and Mark put the call on speaker. Seth greeted who he thought was just Tim, but something in his voice sounded off.

 

“Hey man, you got me and Mark here. What’s going on?” Tim kept his voice low like normal, but he had a feeling there was more coming. That, or Seth could have just woken up. It was one of the two.

 

“Hey Mark, you been doin’ okay?” Seth had neatly sidestepped the question and started Mark on a ten minute spiel of his latest ‘get clean’ efforts as well as a rendition of the whole meeting with the dealer scene they’d just left.

 

Tim was not distracted though. He never opened a conversation with ‘what’s going on?” unless he could hear cause for concern in the other man’s voice. It wasn’t lost on him that Seth knew that, and hadn’t answered the question. Tabling it for now, he pulled into a drive-thru for some fast food before heading back to his apartment. He had a three bedroom unit all to himself, and after today he was going to insist on Mark moving in. Well, he did have a partner who lived with him, but Tim would let him know what was up later.

 

They were pulling into the drive when he heard Seth break away from his conversation with Mark long enough to inform him that Tim needed to set up a bank account to pay the dealer what was owed. “Mark says he’s got his disability checks coming in that he can pay with. You gotta set that up so some of the money can be deposited directly into that account.”

 

Seth had always been a good tactician in the Army. He may have been the youngest, but out of the three of them he was always the most OCD about having a plan. “I can call the bank in the morning, get a joint account set up,” Tim assured him.

 

They ate their meals together, albeit over speaker phone, and Tim watched as Mark showed more and more signs of being himself. He thought there might just be reason to hope this time. If what Mark said was true, he’d been sober for about eight months. He’d had to check into rehab before the VA would sign off on the surgery, then stay in a halfway home for addicts for a time to prove he was clean. He’d met his final milestone the week before.

 

They agreed together that Mark was not to see the dealer again. Tim would give the account info to the man and he could make regular withdrawals for the money he was owed, but no contact beyond that. It was Seth who told Mark that this was the one and only shot he would have. After this, no more.

 

Thankfully, Mark seemed to recognize the sincerity in the statement, and after a look to Tim to see it confirmed, he was quick to assure them he’d fall in line. “Of course, yeah, of course man. I got no reason to be goin’ back there. I promise.”

 

“I’m gonna add another phone to my plan tomorrow,” Tim told him. “We’ll get you his new number then.” They finished their meal and heard a loud noise on Seth’s end.

 

“S’just the construction,” Seth told them. “I’m on a site putting this fence up on a farm. It’s actually pretty cool.” Seth spent a few minutes telling them about the farm and the break-neck speed of the construction happening. Apparently, the owners of the farm were working with the local Sheriffs Department, and they were converting this farm into a compound for training.

 

Seth liked construction because it meant he didn’t have to think too hard about plans. But something about this particular job was scratching at that place in his mind where he knew he was missing something. And he still had moments in the conversation where he seemed a little strained.

 

“I mean, some of it makes sense,” he told them. “But they’re keeping the farm stuff too. Like, the animals and the crops and shit. I don’t know what kind of training they’re thinking of doing for police work. But we have these fences going up around the whole thing.” He went silent for a few moments, then, “If they weren’t the police, I’d think they were survivalists.”

 

He went silent again, and Tim knew he was chasing whatever rabbit trail popped up in his mind. He needed to get Mark sorted in the apartment before he headed back into the office so ended the call with Seth and headed down the hall to set up the spare room.

 

Later that night, Tim got a text from Seth to call him when he was alone. -Entirely alone- the message said.

 

He hadn’t made it home yet so he pulled into an empty parking lot and pressed the call button.

 

“Tim. You alone?” Seth asked. His voice sounded tired and a little shaky. Tim could hear a long exhale on the line.

 

“Are you smoking?” He asked. They had both taken to cigarettes while deployed, but had kicked the habit once they were back. If his friend felt the need to go back to smoking, this couldn’t be good.

 

Seth let out a quick chuckle and said “Yeah. One of the guys here smokes a lot. He gave me a whole pack when I asked to bum one. Just like that. He said ‘welcome to the family’ and then tossed a whole pack at me.”

 

“The family, huh?” Tim commented. The slightly manic tone from Seth wasn’t anywhere close to normal and it was doing nothing to put Tim at ease. “You feel like telling me what’s going on now?”

 

“So here’s the thing,” Seth started. “Wait, you’re alone right?”

 

“Yeah dude. I’m sitting in my car alone in a dark parking lot.” Tim shook his head and looked out to the street where a few cars were making their way by. “You wanna tell me what’s going on before some local stops by to try and sell me something?”

 

Seth let out another long exhale, followed by the sound of a lighter clicking. Great, now he was chain smoking.

 

“Okay. So the thing is…. There’s this thing….” He was obviously looking for the right way to address whatever was going on, so Tim decided to stay quiet and let him get there on his own.

 

“So, I need you to just listen to me. Okay? I’m not crazy, and I can’t prove any of this. But I’m _not_ crazy, Tim. Okay?”

 

He waited long enough to get a “Yeah, okay,” from Tim before jumping into the story.

 

“So I woke up about two weeks ago from this really bad dream, but it wasn’t like normal.” Tim knew _normal_ meant nightmares about the explosion. ”Like it was normal because it was normal life, but then there were all these dead people. And I knew. Tim, I knew. It wasn’t a dream. You know how in the dreams you only see some parts, and how there’s always something about it that you can’t remember when you wake up?”

 

Tim agreed with a “hmm.”

 

“It wasn’t like that. I could remember _everything,_ man. Like _all_ of it. In about three weeks, something’s going to happen. It’s going to be bad, and a lot of people are going to die.”

 

“Seth, listen,” Tim tried to interject but Seth cut him off.

 

“No, just listen man. I told you, I’m not crazy. You know how you like to read all those sci-fi books. Well, this is kind of like that. Except it’s real. There’s no wizards or dragons or any of that shit. But there’s a shit ton of dead people. And there’s this virus that makes them get up and start walking again. If they bite you, you die. And they group together in these herds, man. And they just keep coming.”

 

“Seth, where are you right now?” Tim was starting to get worried. Seth was not the type of person to go off on something like this. He wasn’t a conspiracy nut, he didn’t believe in aliens. Hell, he didn’t even believe in ghosts. If there was one person who Tim had to point at and say this is a person firmly rooted in reality, a concrete thinker, it was Seth. To hear him like this was starting to worry Tim.

 

“I’m on the farm. One of the guys, Aaron came over to talk to me after I got off the call with you guys earlier. Man, he…. He had the same dream too. Most of the people living on the farm had the dream. But it wasn’t, that’s what I’m saying. It wasn’t a dream.”

 

At this point, Tim didn’t know what to say. So he kept quiet and let Seth continue.

 

“They all remembered what happened. Some of them lived for years. I didn’t though. I mean… me and Ember… we went pretty quick. It was one of those herds. They got Ember, man. They… they tore her apart.”

 

“Just breathe, Seth.” Tim still wasn’t sure his friend wasn't having a breakdown of some kind. But the conviction he seemed to have was enough for Tim to respect that he truly believed what he was saying.

 

“Yeah, that’s what the cigarettes are for. You know they help me breathe normal.” Seth wasn’t lighthearted with his words, so Tim just grunted an affirmative.

 

“So tell me how this whole thing goes,” Tim asked. “How does it start?” See, Tim knows he defaults to sarcastic at the best of times. But something told him to set that aside for now.

 

“There’s a virus. I don’t know. At least, I didn’t know before, but some of the people here went to the CDC at the beginning. It was a virus, but, like, with no cure. And no one knows how it started. But it’s coming. Three weeks and it’ll be here.”

 

Seth was quiet for a minute, and Tim let him have the silence. “I want you here, man. You need to come out here.”

 

“Mark’s operation is in two weeks.” Tim didn’t know if he should believe the story or not. But Seth was not known for fantasies. If he had a bad feeling, then it meant something. Seth’s intuition had saved their asses on more than one occasion in the past. “And he’ll need longer than that to recover.”

 

Seth let out a garbled sound of frustration. “No. Okay, do the surgery, then get out here. We got a doc that can take care of him after that. And you’ll only have days at that point.”

 

Tim hummed in thought then “You know how I told you I was into guys?” He threw it out fast and kept going even faster, “Well I’m seeing a guy who’s got a kid in Florida.”

 

“Is it serious?” Seth asked. He and Mark had accepted the fact that Tim was gay with little fanfare. It hadn’t mattered to them in the slightest, and Tim had been grateful. Being in Kentucky had put him back in the closet for a while, but the people he counted as family knew him and knew about him.

 

It hadn’t been Tim who’d initiated anything with his partner. When the other Marshall walked in the office for the first time on some kind of punishment transfer for going all cowboy on a fugitive down in Florida, Tim had thought the ‘cowboy’ term was fitting. Yeah, the guy was a sight, and yeah, he had a cocky swagger that led him into the bed of many a leggy blonde, and seemed pretty partial to his Stetson. But Tim hadn’t honestly been interested.

 

For all he knew, Raylan was as straight as they come. Added to that, he seemed to have a hefty issue with commitment. Tim had done his fair share of one night stands. And sex was great, it really was. But he had stopped liking the feeling that came with the morning after.

 

When Raylan had suggested drinks at his place one night, Tim still hadn’t thought it would be anything other than that, drinks with a colleague-slash-friend.

 

Until it was. They weren’t drunk by any stretch when Tim asked Raylan about one of their problem cases down in Harlan, where Raylan just so happened to hail from. They’d been dealing with the guy for a while, and as charming as he could be, he was a snake in the grass if Tim had ever seen one.

 

The contents of his glass flew out of his mouth and landed all over the counter when Raylan told him, nonchalantly, it was probably because he’d slept with the guy a few times back in high school.

 

Raylan had laughed and patted his back a few times to help Tim get his breathing back. But it was the hand that Raylan left on his shoulder that clued him into what might be going on.

 

“Is this a date?” He'd asked incredulously. It earned him a smirk from the other man.

 

“If this were a date, Tim, we’d be out at a nice restaurant making small talk over the candles.” Raylan had left his hand on Tim’s shoulder, and he realized that it, oddly, didn’t feel weird.

 

Tim had leaned his body a little closer to Raylan’s, lightly brushing their sides together. “Nah. That doesn’t sound like us, does it. This seems like a better date anyway.” When he tilted his head to the side to glance over at his partner, Raylan slid his hand up Tim’s neck and pulled his head in for a soft kiss.

 

Their relationship started in that moment. And it was a relationship. Tim learned that holding out for something that would last was the better call, right around the time he learned that Raylan had absolutely no problem with commitment. It’s just that he needed to trust the other person first.

 

His ex-wife, the mother of his child, had cheated on him and left him. Twice. That sort of thing usually left a mark on someone one way or another. And if Raylan spent a few years sleeping around afterwards, well, he wasn’t the type to apologize for himself.

 

But they were good. It was a solid partnership, and Tim had already told Raylan about Mark moving in by the time he’d called Seth back. Raylan was due back from a prisoner transport late that night and Mark would probably be asleep by the time he got in. He was fine with it though. His daughter was coming to visit in few months while her mother went on a cruise with her new boyfriend, so the addition of Mark would get them some free daycare after his surgery.

 

Tim didn’t want to think about telling Raylan there wouldn’t be a cruise in a few months, because the apocalypse was coming. He wasn’t sure he believed it himself just yet.

 

So to ask if it was serious, “Yeah, pretty much.” Tim filled Seth in on some of the details with Raylan and his daughter. There was no way he’d get the man to head to Georgia instead of Florida.

 

“Shit.” Seth was lighting another cigarette. “Shit. Okay, you gotta tell him. But you gotta tell him it’s real, man. Soon as Mark gets out of surgery, go get the kid, and bring them here.” Tim could tell the sound of Seth rubbing a hand over his face in frustration. He’d seen it in person enough times. “There’s no way you miss the walkers. There’s just no way. You’ll be traveling with one wounded, Mark won’t be walking anywhere. And you’re gonna need medical supplies. I don’t know what exactly, but I’ll ask around here. But get a lot of it. Stock up on that shit, man.”

 

Tim hadn’t realized he’d grabbed a notebook and pen until he was clicking it to write down the things they’d need.

 

“You got a truck? Or SUV? The bigger the better. But you’ll need gas. Those stations shut down pretty quick last time. Tons of walkers there too. Stay away from the cities, dude. It’s a bloodbath inside of five miles in any direction.”

 

“Willa’s in Miami.” Tim mentioned off-handedly.

 

“Fuck!” Seth seemed bound and determined to sort this out. There was no way someone like Tim was going to die from this shit. Seth didn’t know what happened to him the last time, the phones had gone down too fast. But he knew the farm was the best shot at long term survival, and Tim and Mark needed to get there. Apparently with another man and a child in tow. Tim told him Raylan was the best shot he’d seen in a while, which calmed Seth down some thinking Tim would have some backup.

 

“Okay, so seriously,” Seth rallied. “Start getting the survival shit together. Medical supplies, fuel, food, water, weapons. Don’t use guns too much, it brings them in from all over. Lots of sound is bad. A silencer is better if you have one, but not the best. Use bats, or pipes, go for the headshot. It’s the only way to stop them. Knives are good too. You got any K-bars layin’ around? You’re going to need to move fast and quiet. One or two ain’t bad, but get them in a group and its curtains man.”

 

He talked to Seth for a little longer before getting a text from Raylan saying he was about thirty minutes out. He had some things to sort, like putting in for some leave and getting supplies together. The talk with Raylan would be better held till the next day after they had a good night of rest.

 

It was a smart decision, turns out, because Raylan did not take the conversation seriously at all over coffee the next morning. But after Tim pulled all of his leave (about a month’s worth), Raylan gave him a look of consideration and sat down at the kitchen table. “Explain it to me again,” He’d told Tim.

 

By that time, Mark was up and about, and Tim felt telling them both at the same time would be the wise choice. Mark took it much better. But Mark had been waiting for society to crumble one way or another for a while now, so that wasn’t really a surprise.

 

His first thought was to see if his surgery could be moved up. After a morning spent on the phone with the VA, they accepted it just wasn’t happening.

 

Within three days, they had some solid plans in place. Tim and Mark would stay in Kentucky to deal with the surgery. Raylan would head out to Miami early and try to convince his ex to take a trip up to Georgia with their daughter, his partner, and his partner’s friend.

 

She didn’t go for it.

 

Two and a half weeks later, Tim and a groggy Mark pulled into a garage connected to a small house Raylan had rented the week before. He and his daughter Willa were alone.

 

Raylan had gone to his ex’s apartment when he couldn’t get her on the phone and had discovered both she and her boyfriend had turned. It had happened earlier than expected, but Seth had sent them all a warning text that they were seeing walkers in Georgia already.

 

Willa had been in her crib with the door shut. There was no telling how long her mother had been a walker, but Raylan had never prayed as hard as he did when he was walking down that hallway. She’d been quiet as a mouse, though. Only making the softest sound when he picked her up and gathered her things from the room. They made a silent trip back to the house, chosen for the fact that it had high windows and a security fence. He called Tim to fill him in and they waited.

 

Tim had been a day out, and he got Seth on the phone immediately after. The roads were already getting to be near impassible by the time he hit Florida, and Raylan had stocked up on a lot of food and survival gear in their little house. Before he left Kentucky, he and Tim shared a quiet night together where Raylan had explained the plan of stealing money from the evidence locker to buy supplies in Miami. He promised Tim, after a serious round of making out, that if the apocalypse didn’t come, and he went to prison for stealing the money, he’d be naming Tim as his co-conspirator.

 

Tim thought it was good they kept their sense of humor.

 

As it happened, the stocking up was a good idea. With the roads as bad as they were, even near Raylan’s house which was a good thirty miles north of the city, they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Tim had picked up a travel book that had road maps of the country and they plotted the course they would need to take to get them to the farm. But they’d have to wait out the next several months in Florida.

 

Driving north wasn’t bad once they got on their way. They quickly learned to stick to the back roads, and only came across two herds before they made it to the Florida-Georgia line. The three men were silent the first time they saw a group that big. They were in the SUV, and the herd hadn’t seen them yet, but as Tim slowed the vehicle to a stop, both Raylan and Mark looked up with twin expressions of terror.

 

“Nope.” Tim had said as he quietly put the vehicle in reverse, and just as quietly, shifted around in his seat to watch behind them as he backed them down the road they were on. “Mark, find me another road.”

 

Mark nodded but kept looking ahead. Eventually he felt around for the travel book and got on task. But they were all quiet for a while afterwards.

 

Georgia was much of the same. They stayed clear of Atlanta and stayed on the Eastern part of the state as they headed north. All told, they spent about a month on the road. By the time they found the row of cars that would lead to the farm Mark was convinced Willa was a pod person. She hardly made any noise, ever. It would be more concerning for Tim if he wasn’t so grateful for the safety aspect.

 

They stopped alongside the line of cars. There was an RV nearby, not in line, but near enough. Other than that, they were the only vehicle on the actual road. Raylan suggested they watch the forest for a bit. See if there were any walkers. A quick look around let them know they’d be on foot to the farm. Seth had said it was a couple miles in, and they didn’t want to be caught in the middle of a forest if there were walkers. Certainly not with Willa and Mark as defenseless as they were.

 

Seth had told them the plan was to monitor the woods and keep them free of walkers. But that was months ago.

 

“Well,” Mark said. “There’s really nothing to do for it. Grab me my crutches and my pack. We’re walking from here.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new group settles in on the farm. 
> 
> It felt really good for me to reconnect with the characters when I was writing this, so I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

The small group of three men and a baby made it about halfway down what they would later learn was a three mile road when they spotted a pickup truck coming their way. Tim had been out front and already had his hands on his rifle.

 

Mark took Willa from Raylan when the older man held her out before he tipped his hat back and moved up to join Tim.

 

The truck had stopped about twenty feet away and two young boys exited with crossbows up and aimed at them.

 

“What do you want?” the first boy shouted. He had a head of floppy dark hair and a baby face. The other boy looked a lot tougher. At least if you weren’t looking closely. He lifted a hand to the collar on his neck and murmured something they couldn’t make out at that distance.

 

If Tim were still in the military, he’d swear the kid was wearing a mic, but this was just some scrawny country kid out in the forest, dressed in a tank and jeans. Still, they both handled their weapons with confidence and their stance showed the same.

 

Neither Tim nor Raylan had lifted their weapons. It wasn’t that the boys posed no threat. It’s just that something told Tim that they weren’t a threat to _him._ He lifted his head and raised his voice just enough to carry. “We’re looking for Seth Markle.”

 

Tim watched as the second boy’s eyes went a little wide and he lifted his hand to his throat again. No shit. The kid was wearing a mic, they both were. Tim was sure of it now.

 

The boy said something to his companion and he and Raylan watched the first boy climb into the back of the truck and perch up on the roof of the cab. The crossbow was still pointing at them.

 

“You just stay where you are. It’ll probably be about fifteen,” he told them.

 

Fifteen what? Fifteen minutes? And what exactly would happen in fifteen? He didn’t get an answer when he asked, so they resigned themselves to wait it out. Raylan took Willa back and Mark shifted his attention to the surrounding trees. Tim had it covered in the front.

 

True enough, what felt like ten to twenty minutes later, they heard the sound of another vehicle and looked down the road to see a U-Haul headed their way.

 

They saw two men in the cab, but as it came a little closer Tim knew he was looking at his friend, his brother.

 

Seth was grinning as he jumped out and strolled over. Mark had limped up closer to Tim’s position and shouted out “Rangers lead the way!”

 

The boys gave Seth an odd look as he laughed and responded “Not if I’m the tip of the spear!” He was still laughing when he reached them and grabbed first Mark and then Tim into a tight hug. “You made it,” He said through another grin.    

 

“Hey, marine,” Tim said around a smile when he pulled Seth in for his own hug. “This is Raylan and little Willa.”

 

Seth and Raylan had spoken on the phone enough that the two men already felt they had a good handle on the other, and the first in-person meeting felt like greeting an old friend.

 

“You guys have any trouble on the roads?” Seth asked.

 

To a casual observer, it would almost seem like they were meeting in a normal world, before any kind of apocalypse and walker business took place. Just a guy bringing his significant other up to Georgia to meet his family.

 

Raylan played along. “Oh not too bad, a little traffic comin’ out of Florida.” He tilted his head from side to side, “But that cleared up soon enough. I think we made good time. You think, Tim?”

 

Tim just shook his head and looked at the ground. He was smiling though. “We saw some of those groups you warned us about.”

 

“Dude… you weren’t kidding,” Mark added. “There were hundreds, man. All over the road, just walking in a big group. These guys are lucky I was there to map out a new route. Neither of them can navigate worth a damn.”

 

Seth laughed and took Mark’s pack from him to make the walking easier as he led them over to the U-Haul and Aaron. Introductions happened again, and Seth was happy to see Aaron was immediately accepting of the travelers. He’d made it a point to tell Aaron about his phone calls, and his hope that his friends would make it.

 

Aaron had withheld his own doubt about their arrival and acted as a sounding board anytime Seth wanted to talk. He’d hoped for Seth’s sake that they would make it, but knew firsthand that the dangers of being on the road sometimes got the best of even the most capable of people.

 

It was nice to see Seth like this though. Apart from a few smirks now and then, he hadn’t really seemed to be able to drop the serious demeanor around anyone beside Anders. Hopefully this new addition would let the man breathe a little easier, drop the walls a little more.

 

Aaron smiled at the sight of Willa, but she was still tiny enough to not really be too concerned with her surroundings.

 

With a baby that young, all she knew was that her dad was holding her and she was safe to sleep. Which she promptly went back to.

 

Milo and Miguel said hi, their greeting much more reserved. They we too much like their mentor, Aaron told them quietly as he helped them load their bags into the back of the U-Haul.

 

“But that’s really not a bad thing,” He added, then continued with a bit more of a grim face that promised a story later, “They’ve learned it’s probably better to be a little reserved when meeting new people. Did you guys have more things with you?”

 

Raylan mentioned their SUV filled with supplies out on the road and Seth went over to the pick-up to explain to the boys that they were clear to do their trash run, but that he and the group were going to follow them out to the gate to grab the supplies from the other vehicle on the road.

 

Raylan got in the cab with Willa while Seth and Tim helped Mark into the back of the truck for the short ride. Aaron watched Miguel offer a hand to Milo as he got down from the roof of the pick-up and the truck took off down the road.

 

“They were the first ones trained to head outside of the walls,” Aaron told him. “Daryl, you’ll meet him later, trains groups of two at a time to prepare them for the walkers. The boys had both seen walkers before, but they needed to learn the ropes a little.”

 

“Seth remembered this happening from a sort of dream,” Raylan noted. “You have that same vision?”

 

Aaron smiled over at him. “A lot of us did. Miguel up there did, too. Milo didn’t, but he’s adapting well.”

 

Raylan nodded and Aaron continued. “They’ve been doing runs out of this gate, the west gate, for a while now. This side is quieter since the only thing out this way is the old town. There’s roads of course, that you know about seeing as you came up on them, but they’re small backroads. The east gate has the highway.”

 

“Yeah, we figured real quick that we needed to avoid those.” Raylan brought up the herd they’d seen on the highway as they were leaving his house. It hadn’t been as big as the one they came across closer to Georgia, but it had been enough that they rerouted their path strictly to the backroads.

 

“Well the boys were on a hunt a couple weeks back when they came across a group of guys. Only five or so, but they were grown adults facing two teenagers. At first Milo had been happy to see survivors. We don’t see that many of them, and maybe he was more friendly than he should’ve been.” Aaron was quiet as they came up to the outer gate and watched Miguel leave the truck, open the padlock, and walk out on the road and check the surroundings before waving them forward.

 

Milo had scooted over to the driver’s seat and the pickup crawled forward.

 

“Long story short, Miguel knew the guys weren’t right and called into Daryl to head their way. He and his brother got to them just as the leader was grabbing Milo.” Aaron was quiet for a minute and his face had taken a hard look again. “Daryl knew who they were from before… There was nothing good that would’ve happened to those boys if he hadn’t shown up.

 

“He and Merle slaughtered the five of them. Miguel helped, but Milo was pretty shook up. Miguel hasn’t really left his side since. He’s been learning mechanic work from Daryl and Milo’s sister, made the boy come down to the garage and learn beside him.”

 

Raylan knew the world could hold evil men; he’d put down a few in his time. Maybe it was the Marshall in him, maybe it was just how he was made. But without even knowing the kid driving the pick-up in front of him, he was absolutely certain he would have joined in on that killing. It was beyond a doubt justified in his mind.

 

The boys helped them get the SUV emptied and Miguel took over the keys to go drive it around the perimeter and find a place for it in line. The perimeter was solid, but there were always smaller vehicles that could be supplemented by a rig this size.

 

Aaron was off talking to Milo in the pick-up’s front seat as Seth loaded the last bag, and he called over to let them know he was going to join the boys on their run.

 

Seth took one look at the kid behind the wheel and saw the way he was holding himself a little too tense, and sent a quick nod before holding the door open for Raylan to climb back in the cab. He and Raylan would ride with Willa in the front of the U-Haul while Mark and Tim took the back.

 

He stopped one time inside the outer gate to put the lock back on, then hopped back in and drove down the three mile road. Raylan let out a whistle as the huge black fence and guard tower came into view, but was quietly in awe as they were let into the compound.

 

The U-Haul stopped near the second fork in the road and Seth explained that they’d just passed the perimeter road with the guard tower, then the laundry to his left and kennels to his right, then the clinic on the left after that and the armory again on his right. The clinic had a side bay door with a paved concrete entrance on the side of the building facing the main road they were on. Judging by the two ambulances parked in front of the bay door, Raylan could’ve guessed clinic, and he nodded his head in agreement.

 

Seth pulled forward a ways past the intersection until they stopped right alongside a semi.

 

The semi was running and Seth told him it would stay like that, pulled up on Main Street until the boys got back from their run. After that, it would be backed up against the fence for additional support. The perimeter road was just far enough away from the fence that there was enough space for a semi to be parked without the pick-ups that ran a circuit to need to veer away from it too much.

 

As Raylan climbed out of the truck and came to the back to help Tim and Mark with their own exit, they took a minute to look around at what they could see of the farm. It was massive.

 

They had a clear view to the fields on the southern end and saw structures that must be housing animals, and more structures up to the north that were much bigger.

 

Seth was happy to make introductions as a group of people came out of the armory to greet them. They met Crowe and Maggie, Glenn and Rick, as well as Leslie and Terry who came outside from the clinic.

 

Leslie zeroed in on Mark and his crutches. She wasn’t happy to see people with injuries, but she was happy to be able to help. Terry introduced himself to Mark first and the three of them quickly got into a conversation about his leg and the last operation he’d had.

 

Crowe and Maggie were kind as they welcomed the newcomers and ushered them all back into the armory to “debrief”.

 

About two hours were spent at the big, oak table going over their trip and the things they witnessed to the south. They had some supplies on them for Mark and Willa, but the new group all breathed a sigh of relief when Maggie gave them a better understanding of exactly how well stocked the farm was.

 

There were housing arrangements and schedules to go over, skills assessments, and expectations to manage. It wasn’t like Maggie had a whole speech prepared but Selia kept her on track with the overview of the farm.

 

Rick introduced them to Daryl and his son Carl when the two got back from a walk around the lake with their dog, Havoc and Seth’s dog Ember.

 

Seth had convinced Daryl that Havoc would do better outside with Ember during the day instead of cooped up inside their cabin. Daryl had agreed quickly, and they could usually find the two dogs on the front porch of the main house where the kids were. Except of course if Daryl or Seth, or anyone really came to get them for a stroll. The other K9s in the kennels were being introduced to a more relaxed setting, and the rescue dogs had all found owners from inside the Main Apartment or cabins, with a few of them heading to the Nursing Home for companionship with the elderly residents.

 

It was a lot to take in, and seemed so _normal-life_ to the three men that Maggie suggested they get started on their tour of the place.

 

“How are you guys on walking?” Rick asked. He’d spotted the crutches Mark was using and wasn’t surprised when Mark laughed and told him that he’d been getting stronger, but still liked the support they gave him.

 

It’d been several months since his operation, but they weren’t really well-versed in rehab and physical therapy so it’d been slow going.

 

Rick nodded and looked over to Maggie who grinned. “We’ve actually just acquired some golf carts that should do nicely.”

 

The golf carts had been Glenn’s find. And as soon as he saw them, he knew he was taking the entire fleet they’d uncovered at the once prestigious golf course they were raiding. They’d found other things too, the place had a fully stocked kitchen they emptied of all non-perishables, as well any kitchenware and home goods they came across.

 

Honestly, their raids were rarely less than bountiful, but the shipping containers were more than enough to hold the things they’d gathered. They had over eighty containers on the farm. The top ones were to be filled first, but they had agreed that they didn’t need over forty containers for a shelter-in-place scenario, and could use some of the lower ones for storage if it came to that.

 

The shelter containers were all clearly marked with a red cross on the visible sides for anyone caught outside to run for easily in the event of a disaster scenario. So far, they hadn’t been needed, but they had them just in case.

 

Maggie explained this to Tim and Raylan as she led them around the farm in one cart, while Selia and Seth filled Mark in as they trailed behind in their own cart.

 

They made a stop at the cabins for the group to look around. “We got one cabin left up here that nobody’s livin’ in.” Maggie told them. “You interested?”

 

Selia made a quick stop in to see her husband Caesar in their own cabin, and he came out for introductions. He’d just gotten off an overnight guard duty shift that morning and came out to invite the group in for coffee and a bite to eat if they wanted.

 

Tim wasn’t too familiar with construction work, but Raylan was a decent handyman and liked the idea of joining Caesar on the builder crew if they needed another hand.

 

“Man, we always need another hand.” Caesar returned with a laugh. “Mike started the renovation on the second apartment down the road. He runs a tight crew, but the more hands the better.”

 

“It’ll be nice to give Annette that kitchen,” Maggie mused. Which had all of the folks who’d already been living on the farm agreeing quickly.

 

They’d already taken a look at the Apartments 1, 2 and 3, as well as the storage building on their way up the hill. The look of astonishment on the three men’s faces was pretty similar to Carol’s, and Andrea’s, and Sam’s when they had seen everything.

 

This may be the apocalypse, but you’d never guess that from inside the walls. Sure, the weapons everyone carried were a dead give-away, and the fences and shipping containers added to that particular ambiance. But the community didn’t act hostile or wary of the newcomers, or seem like they were struggling to survive. Nor did they get the feeling anyone here had ulterior motives.

 

They’d learn later that it was because Seth vouched for them. Same as Daryl and Michonne, or Rick, Aaron or Hank. The community looked at their leaders with trust, and they saw Seth as a very skilled fighter and trusted his instinct. If he said they were good people, then they were good people.

 

“The last cabin’s pretty sparse on decorations,” Selia told them. “But we can take a look at the things in storage. You’re sure to find something you like.”

 

She mentioned that if they didn’t like what they found, Otis and Tom were out with Hank and his team at the moment clearing out some of the houses from a nearby neighborhood. It was one of those nice areas too, she’d told them.

 

The clearing of neighborhoods was done as a way to gather useable furniture and supplies, but also as a way to look for other survivors. So far, they’d found a lot of walkers but not so much in the way of living bodies. In fact, aside from Sam and Jessie, they hadn’t come across anyone.

 

Sam had said the spot she’d been in was much of the same. She’d been able to pilfer goods from kitchens and pantries in her surrounding area, but the people who’d lived there were all either dead or gone.

 

“Otis and Patricia are living in the cabin right in front of yours,” Selia told them, then stopped for a second. “You did want the cabin, right?”

 

Tim looked over at Raylan briefly before smiling back at Selia. “Yeah we’ll take it if ya’ll don’t mind.”

 

Seth liked that idea, and had already talked to Mark about staying down in the last open room of the main apartment. He’d be closer to everything, and really close to the clinic for his pt. Leslie had already set up Noah, another guy with a leg injury, on a pt schedule, and she’d told Mark to get himself ready for the same kind of treatment.

 

Mark had been a little scared of the glint in her eye, but was relieved overall to have a competent professional overseeing his recovery.

 

“It’s a three bedroom though,” Tim brought up when they toured the cabin. “Who’s taking the other room?”

 

Maggie looked up after jotting something down in her notebook. “We’re not at that point yet,” she said. “We’ve got the whole other apartment that has rooms if we need it.” She added that if anyone moved into Apartment 2 over the next couple months, they were likely going to have to deal with the sounds of the construction, but Mike and Morgan were making some good headway on the project so it wouldn’t be long.

 

“My husband and his friend Tyler are talking about adding on to the number of cabins we have.” Maggie had a resigned look on her face when she said it, and Tim watched Selia try to hide a smile and look away. “But we’re not there yet either,” Maggie pointed out with a huff.

 

Caesar laughed at the comment and addressed the men, “Maggie’s our leader here.” They all took another look at her and Raylan nodded with a look on his face that read _yeah, I could see that._

 

“She and Selia and Jacqui do all the planning for the farm, and they want their own office before anything else.” Caesar told them. “But Glenn and Tyler want to head out to these warehouses and pick up more cabins. They’re pre-fab, ya know, so it’s just the land prep and the water and electricity that would need to happen. We could take care of the construction no problem.”

 

“And the septic,” Maggie added.

 

“And the septic,” he agreed. “But other than that, it’s doable. It’s just scheduling.”

 

Maggie reminded the group about the other apartment building that already had septic and electricity and plenty of rooms for more people. The room laughed and they finished up the cabin tour with Raylan asking about any furniture for a baby. Selia and Maggie smiled and told them about the Babies R’ Us that they’d emptied a month before.

 

The tour continued in the golf carts with a trip around the fields where Rick and Otis ran the actual farming side of the farm. Then down to the stables with Hershel, Shawn, and Lori ran the introductions to the livestock.

 

Raylan and Tim traded carrying Willa around, neither accepting the offer to leave her in the daycare at the big house when they stopped there.

 

Tim was excited to learn about the livestock and passed Willa back to Raylan as Hershel showed him around the cattle barn and chicken coop.

 

The area for the pigs was up and running with the pigs they’d recovered from a farm down the road. Maggie had stopped a meeting about two months ago and looked up at her father and said “Daddy, the Peterson’s…. I think we need to go see…”

 

And they had. The Peterson’s farm was still up but the animals weren’t in the best of shape. The pigs were moved first, but they’d salvaged all they could. There were chickens and horses as well as a few goats that they’d brought in. Once the group realized they had starving animals out there, everyone agreed to delay raids for a week and work on collecting, then moving the livestock.

 

It was also around the time the horses were being caught in the fields that Maggie sent another team out to the racing stables about an hour away.

 

That group had returned with fifteen horses to add to their already seven they’d gathered. Again, the animals weren’t in the best shape, and they’d needed their feet seen to on top of a full medical work up with Hershel. But Shawn, Chris and Lori were excited to meet them and worked around the clock, often bunking down in the barn with the horses those first couple weeks while Merle gathered Carl and Alex to help bring food and Judith down for visits.

 

Alex was a curious kid, and seeing his older brother with the horses sparked his interest in them. Even the most skittish of the horses didn’t seem to mind the Alex’s presence and the adult members of the group told his father, Tom that the boy had a gift.

 

He was down with the animals when the tour stopped by, and he was outspoken as he led them around to introduce them to every horse by name.

 

The tour finished up back in the main house, and Maggie went in the kitchen to grab them each a drink. They’d missed the big lunch, but had already eaten up at Selia’s cabin so they weren’t famished.

 

Beth offered again to lay Willa down for a nap and Mark joked that she’d been napping the whole time. But Raylan accepted the offer this time, and walked over to the side room with Beth that had been converted into a nursery/nap room for the children.

 

Tim was struck again at the organization he’d seen and said as much to Seth as the two men walked outside. “It’s a really good place here.” Seth told him. “I’m just real happy you guys made it.”

 

He cleared his throat a little and looked out past the front porch. Tim wasn’t the type to call his friend out on being emotional, but he did nudge Seth’s shoulder with his own and joined him in looking out over the farm.

 

“I’m real happy about that too.”

 

Leaving Willa in the nursery cleared Raylan and Tim to help out with the set up for furniture at their Cabin, and items for Mark’s room. Maggie headed back to the armory, but Selia gathered a group of people and a U-Haul to sort the rest.

 

They’d needed to pull a forklift for the bigger items in the top containers, but clothes, linens, toiletries, and food were easy enough to manage by hand. They set Mark up first and left him to get settled in with a shower and a rest, while Tim and Raylan continued on to the cabin to set up their own place.

 

With enough people helping, they were moved in by nightfall and returned collect Willa and head to the Main Apartment for the evening meal. The tables that had been collected from Starbucks (the farm had raided every Starbuck’s they found) were set up for eating and there were a lot more introductions that took place over dinner.

 

It was getting late though, and they’d been on the road for about a month before they found the farm. The others didn’t begrudge them for excusing themselves back to the cabin.

 

Raylan put Willa down in her new crib with her new blankets and stuffed animals. He looked around the room at the dresser, fully stocked changing table, bookshelf with story books and more toys, rocking chair that had soft padding, the carpeted floor, and pastel curtains. He turned the light out but left the door cracked as he returned to the room he and Tim had set up and took in his partner.

 

Tim had just come out of the shower with a towel around his hips and another one he was using to ruffle his hair dry as he sat on the bed. Raylan took over the towel drying and tossed the baby monitor down next to the other man.

 

“Willa’s out. But we’ll hear her on the monitor if she needs anything.” He stopped rubbing the towel and pulled it off Tim’s head to look down at him. He needed a haircut. They both did at this point. “Tim… we have a _baby monitor_.”

 

Raylan looked down at him with shocked exasperation and saw the same look given back to him around a tired smile. Tim reached his arms up to Raylan’s hips and encouraged him to bend forward for a gentle kiss.

 

“It’s been a day, but it feels a bit longer doesn’t it?” He whispered up. He stood up when Raylan moved to set the monitor on the nightstand, turning it up loud.

 

Their bathroom was connected to their room, with another out in the hall for guests. He tossed the used towels over the hook on the bathroom door and grabbed some sweats out of the dresser across the room for sleeping. Turning back to the bed he saw the way Raylan was watching the activity with a look of interest. “Nope. Not until you shower,” he shot over to him. “You shouldn’t even be sittin’ on the bed being as covered in shit as you are.”

 

Raylan gave him a grin and tugged the pants out of his hand at the same time he pulled him closer for another quick kiss.

 

It was quick because Tim pulled back when Raylan tried to deepen it. “Seriously. You stink, and there’s a quick fix for that right through that door.”

 

He shoved Raylan off the bed and shooed him towards the bathroom. “Brush your teeth before you come back too.”

 

Raylan waved behind him as he walked towards the shower. But he left the door open and Tim figured he wouldn’t mind so much if he watched him get undressed from the bed.

 

He’d gathered some supplies earlier from container 23 (they were all numbered) that Selia had mentioned he might want after she learned Tim had meant _partner_ in the relationship way and not just the Marshall way when he referred to Raylan.

 

Between Willa and Mark, and the fact that it was the apocalypse, Tim and Raylan hadn’t really had any time to connect with their relationship.

 

As Tim wandered into the bathroom to pick up Raylan’s clothes and put them in the hamper while the man showered, he resolved that he was going to change that tonight. They were both tired, exhausted really, so it wasn’t going to be as _active_ as they normally would. But it was a very much needed moment for them.

 

They were safe. They had their family, and their friends, and now a whole community to belong to. Tim could see their life being a much more positive experience on the farm than anything he could’ve hoped for a month ago. He was content.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because someone asked for more Rick/Daryl scenes....

Rick shut off the main overhead lights in the greenhouse and walked the length to the cot he’d set up earlier that day. The weather had turned cold that week, about the time they’d expected it to.

 

Maggie had debated with Rick and Otis for a while the day before about whether it would be a good idea to take another team out to one of the farms they hadn’t hit yet. The animals had all been gathered, so had any usable crops from the fields. But Otis brought up the silos on the other land.

 

They hadn’t checked them out, and he and Rick thought there might be something worthwhile to find. Maggie had two arguments. First, where would they put it? The Greene farm only had two silos, and they were full. Second, the weather was turning and the roads might get bad.

 

Rick mentioned that there would probably need to be some moisture on the roads for that to happen. At the moment, it was just a little cold.

 

His argument was cut off as they all heard the sound of thunder overhead.

 

Maggie tilted her head to the side and looked up at Rick in a ‘ _well, would you look at that’_ way. Rick wasn’t amused, but he and Otis put their arguments away.

 

The farm was ready for a winter lockdown. They had everything they needed, and weren’t concerned about the lack of heat due to the fact that the buildings all had electricity. Most of the residences had already turned on their heat a week ago.

 

Otis had insisted on taking the outdoor space heaters for the crops from one of the farms down the road. He was worried the greenhouses might not keep the frost away and wanted the heaters just in case. They ran on propane, but only a small amount.

 

Rick wasn’t convinced the greenhouses were going to lose the heat, so he’d volunteered to spend the first really cold night out there to keep an eye on it. If it did get too cold, he could turn on the heaters.

 

Which was how he found himself walking the length of the greenhouse in the dark. About halfway down, a spark of light stopped him in his tracks. It took a few seconds for him to realize he was looking at strings of Christmas lights placed up in the young potted trees at the end of the rows. Right where his sleeping area was.

 

He turned the corner slowly and let a smile grow on his face. Daryl was laying on the cot looking up at him with a soft smile of his own.

 

“Hey,” Rick said softly. They didn’t need to be quiet, but something about the gentle lights and the silent building made him keep his voice low.

 

Daryl didn’t seem to be getting up anytime soon, but he shot back his own quiet “Hey Sheriff.”

 

Rick chuckled as he settled his knees on either side of Daryl’s hips and crouched over him to give him a kiss. Daryl pulled him back down as he started to pull back and turned the kiss into something deeper as he ran his hands under Rick’s shirt until he let him up to pull it off.

 

Recognizing words could wait, Rick settled more closely on top of his partner and helped him adjust enough to make room for both men on the single mattress. They’d slept on smaller beds before, this wouldn’t be a problem.

 

Daryl shifted up slightly to remove his own shirt and settled back down, pulling their chests together as he moved his mouth to Rick’s neck and collarbone. He loved tasting as much of the man as he could, and he knew that Rick loved it when he did. They’d been a little distracted with everything going on at the farm in preparation for winter.

 

The panic about the neighboring animals, the return (and swift exit) of Joe and his men, the new arrivals… All of it seemed to take up their attention to the point where they passed out almost as soon as they hit the bed most nights.

 

But here Daryl was, figuring out a way to make time for each other. And being a little romantic, what with the lights and all.

 

Rick smiled again and pulled Daryl back up for another heated kiss. A request he was more than happy to oblige. Daryl didn’t make any move to divest them of the rest of their clothes, so Rick moved a leg in between his partners and pulled him closer. He swallowed the gasp Daryl gave at the friction and tugged him in again, setting a slow grinding motion for them to follow.

 

It was nice, feeling Daryl against him and feeling the hands the hunter had twined in his hair start to grasp and pull slightly. Hearing his panting as he pulled his head back to take in some air and bask in the feeling of Rick.

 

Taking advantage of the fact that Daryl was tilted away for a moment, Rick pressed forward until he was on top of the other man. He kept up the slow grind and was welcomed by moans and soft whispers of encouragement from below.

 

Daryl could get loud. Rick knew he could, he’d heard it. Hell, he’d caused it. But it was once in a blue moon. For most of their time like this, Rick was treated to quiet little huffs of air, breath catching, and if he was lucky soft moans.

 

When Daryl initiated things, he generally liked to be on top. But Rick knew that sometimes, only sometimes, he thoroughly enjoyed Rick taking charge and being able to lay back and bask in the attention. This was shaping out to be one of those times.

 

And Rick wasn’t going to waste it. He shifted up and began licking his way down his hunter’s chest until he reached his waist. Daryl had a thing for his hipbones, and Rick lavished attention on them with bites and sucking marks into the skin until Daryl was writhing on the mattress and curling upwards.

 

As he soothed him back down with one hand on his sternum, he used his other hand to unsnap the button on his jeans and pull the zipper down. “Lift up for me sweetheart.” Rick asked as he patted his hip.

 

Daryl was quick to comply, and Rick pulled off the jeans and boxers within seconds. Daryl had already removed his boots earlier apparently, and Rick smiled again at his partner planning this night for them.

 

Not to be distracted though, he set the clothes on the ground at the end of the cot for cushion and knelt down on top of them. Rick slid his hands up Daryl’s thighs, then down the underside of his legs. He hooked his palms under the backside of his knees and pulled him closer.

 

Daryl pushed up on his elbows, partially to watch, but also to make it easier to shift towards the end of the cot. As Rick lifted one, then the other leg to drape across his shoulders, Daryl let out a strangled sound and dropped back down flat with one arm thrown over his face.

 

Rick didn’t need him to watch, he just wanted to make him feel good. And he did, if the sounds he was drawing from his partner were anything to go by. Any part of Daryl was free game when he was like this. The sensations were collected like a starving kid in a candy store, and he never shied away from being touched when Rick had him laid out.

 

He spent some time exploring at first. Mapping out the other man with his mouth, using long slides of his tongue and gentle suckling pressure for the more sensitive areas. He brought his hand up to join him when he heard the first whimper.

 

Daryl would swear on whatever he held most precious that he had never whimpered in his life. But Rick knew better and silently drank in the sounds of his partner’s pleasure as he lifted his head up. If Daryl had planned this, there were probably supplies. Rick looked along the side of the cot and spotted the other man’s bag.

 

Pulling it closer, he open the top flap and felt around inside until, sure enough, there was the condoms and lube. Strawberry flavored. Huh. He settled back down and pushed his partner’s feet back towards his body until they could rest on the edge of the mattress but not cause his whole body to move up. He still wanted access to everything.

 

He made quick work of removing his own clothes and pulled the condom on, using some of the lube to slick himself up before focusing back on the fun part of the night.

 

Normally, if Daryl was open to receiving, he wanted the prep done quickly. But on nights like this, he was content to take it as slow as Rick wanted.

 

He gasped as felt the first pressure from Rick’s fingers skating around his entrance. It wasn’t forceful, just moving around. Rick was more interested in coating him in lube at first, moving in small circles. But soon enough he was adding pressure more frequently and then slipping a finger inside. He continued with just one for a while, using his mouth to take Daryl’s cock inside his own body and provide dual sensations for him to luxuriate in.

 

Adding another finger, he began to move his hand in a circular motion, occasionally spreading his fingers apart to slowly make more room. Daryl bit into his own wrist to try and muffle a particularly loud moan when he added a third. He got a louder moan though when he chuckled around Daryl’s cock and sent vibrations up through his body enough to have him clenching at the three fingers inside of him.

 

Releasing Daryl from his mouth, he checked in with a quiet “You okay?”

 

Daryl didn’t respond with words, but he did let out a loud huff and used his right leg to wrap around Rick’s shoulders and bring him in closer before he moved his arm back over his face.

 

Rick laughed and let the leg pull him back down. But instead of resuming his activities, he moved his mouth lower and dedicated the next several minutes to sucking one, then the other of Daryl’s balls into his mouth and flattening his tongue to lave attention on them.

 

Following the path of his own saliva as it mixed with the lube below, Rick was especially pleased to earn a “fuck… fuck!” from Daryl as he added his mouth to his fingers and stretched his tongue as far as he could. “Rick…” came the breathy voice from above. But there was blood rushing in his ears too loudly to hear much more. He knew Daryl was getting louder, but the leg had tightened across his back again, so he knew it was the good kind of loud.

 

He’d found a task he wanted to explore and removed his hand entirely for better access. He couldn’t say how long he spent taking Daryl apart, just that when he finally lifted his head back up he realized a few things: He liked the taste of Strawberry lube, his jaw ached a little, and Daryl was two seconds away from sobbing.

 

“Please. Rick, please. Inside.” Daryl hitched out around gulps of air.

 

Not one to disobey an order or a plea from his partner, Rick moved an arm under Daryl’s lower back as the other man lifted his arms and legs from the mattress to cling onto Rick. He slid them closer to the top of the cot again and lowered himself over his partner, lining himself up and slipping inside as he did.

 

He would like to say he lasted for a good long while, but that just wasn’t true. He’d worked them both up to the point where a small amount of friction felt like a tidal wave of sensation. But he did hold off long enough to comply with Daryl’s request for “Harder, fuck, come on,” when he was getting close.

 

Sometimes, the comedown from a good orgasm was the best part. The feeling of his entire body relaxing and being close to the person he loved at the same time was one of his favorites. Daryl held him for a few minutes before they both shifted and started to move around to clean up.

 

Rick gently pushed Daryl back down again when he started to sit up to follow him.

 

“Get my other bag then,” He told Rick after flopping back down on the mattress. Rick looked around in the soft light to see a duffle a few feet away. Inside he found a towel, several water bottles, wet wipes and sleep clothes for the both of them. He tossed the sweats and t-shirt at Daryl and pulled out a few wipes. “I got boxers in there too.”

 

“Hmm.” Rick set about wiping off Daryl’s stomach and handed him the extra wipe for the rest. “I don’t think you’ll need those tonight.” He returned to the bag for the water, towel, and his own clothes. Draping the towel on the cot next to the water bottles, he pulled off the condom and tied it off.

 

Waiting for his partner to be done with the wipes and the towel, Rick dressed and pulled on the socks he’d found. Once they’d rehydrated, the trash had been moved to the bin in the corner of the room, and the towel was put back in the bag, Rick returned to the cot where a now dressed hunter was waiting for him.

 

“Well that’s going to be one way to keep in shape over the winter,” Rick said around a sigh as he settled in under the blankets.

 

Daryl snorted and let out a yawn. “Like we’re not gonna have enough to do.”

 

They relaxed in silence for a bit until Rick stretched his neck back a little to watch the other man’s face. He could feel a little tension returning and confirmed it with the thoughtful expression he saw. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you think we’re not ready?”

 

Daryl shifted one arm until it was around Rick’s shoulders and pulled him in for a quick squeeze. “Nah, we’re ready. Never seen a place more ready than this. It’s just…”

 

He had a feeling where Daryl’s thoughts were headed. Back in the beginning, when they were first making plans for the farm, Daryl had reached out to a few people. He hadn’t told Rick about it until two of them showed up while they were sorting the fruit trees. That same night, he’d told Rick about the third man he’d contacted.

 

The call had gone through and he’d remembered everything. Daryl had told him about the farm and he had directions and a plan to head south. But his friend had told him he needed to take care of a few things first, and that it would be a while before he could get there.

 

Daryl had agreed that ‘ _a while_ ’ could mean a lot of things. But Rick knew he’d been hoping for the man’s arrival before the winter hit.

 

Maggie was locking down the farm for a good reason. Georgia could have some pretty ugly winters. The ice on the roads was treacherous even when they had the salt trucks. Without them, it was a crapshoot.

 

The weather hadn’t turned deadly yet, but if he was traveling when it did, Rick was worried for him. And he knew Daryl was equally concerned.

 

The arrival of Seth’s friends was a wonderful surprise for the farm. Maggie and Aaron were the only ones who knew he’d been expecting them. Seth had explained that he just didn’t want to jinx it if he started telling everyone, and Rick had watched Daryl nod in understanding when he did.

 

Daryl and his brother could be superstitious about the strangest things, like showering on the morning you were going hunting, or leaving a seat empty in a truck on long drives at night. Something about mushroom rings in the woods.

 

But he understood wanting to keep a closed mouth on something like this. If he never said anything about it, that meant nothing might be going wrong. It wasn’t logical, but he understood it. Still, Daryl had brought it to him, he could at least instill a little hope.

 

“He’ll make it Daryl. He survived a long time before, through some pretty bad shit.” Rick draped an arm around Daryl’s side as he turned over to face the other direction. It wasn’t a brush off, and as soon as he was settled he grabbed hold of Rick’s hand and brought it up to his mouth for a kiss.

 

“He’s smart enough not to travel in the winter though. We might not see him until the spring.” Rick hoped the words were some kind of comfort to the man. He thought they might be as he felt Daryl tighten his hold on his hand again before relaxing down into the mattress. “Did you set the alarm?”

 

“Hmm. Three ‘clock.” He muttered back an affirmative.

 

Rick smiled as he snuggled into Daryl’s warmth and drifted off to catch some sleep before he had to be up and checking for frost.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I am not done with this story by any means, I did have a clear plan on who I wanted on the farm pretty early on in my writing. With this chapter, we have all the players on the board. 
> 
> There are other people from canon who I know some people really like... If they're not here, it's because I didn't see it in my head. But if there are any suggestions for any favorite characters, let me know and I promise to consider it. Send me a message. If it's not in the cards, I promise to have a reason why.

The woods were silent as Daryl and Merle made their way through them. They moved slowly, no longer having the leaf cover to hide them from any of the prey they might be hunting.

 

Trips into the woods for hunting were one of the only times the farm was open to people leaving during the winter. The other reasons being trash runs and sweeps of the old town to the west.

 

They had replaced the tires on the pick-up truck with winter tires after a debate on the merits of winter versus all-weather. Winter had won. It wasn’t like they didn’t have enough of them.

 

One of the raids where they found enough of a haul to have their main storage building fully stocked with non-perishables, was a Sam’s Club. But food wasn’t all they had. They found more tires than they needed.

 

Maggie had been overjoyed with that raid, and had allocated part of the north field to be turned into a warehouse to store the tires they found. Seriously, there were a lot of tires. Several vehicles had been selected from the discoveries they made out on runs and set aside for emergency evac. They were kept inside the fence, up on the northern border along with the fuel trucks.

 

The pick-ups were constantly in use, Daryl and Rosita had picked out four of the best to use as perimeter vehicles, and checked them over frequently to ensure they stayed in top shape. The others were chosen for the amount of people they could hold, but also for the ability to convert to diesel, if not being so already. The warehouse Maggie wanted would be used to store them alongside the tires. 

 

Of course the warehouse wasn’t built yet, but it would begin in the spring. They were lucky that they had a Sam’s Club relatively close. It was only about an hour away, though in normal times it would have taken slightly less. They had found more semi’s, fully loaded, that they brought home. But they had come prepared with their own. It was a good haul.

 

After that trip, they had three shipping containers filled to the brim with toilet paper, and Selia had already told them she wanted a fourth to go the same way. _No one_ questioned her decision. With the amount of people on the farm, toilet paper was always on the list every time the teams went out. It didn't really matter what the main objective was, it always included toilet paper.

 

But for right now, the woods were quiet. Everything was in shades of white, black, and a dark moss color due to the recent snowfall. It wasn’t the first snow of the winter, but it was the heaviest so far.

 

When Daryl and Merle were making plans to go out on a hunt over dinner one evening, Rick had told them to stop by the armory and talk to Maggie about getting the cold weather hunting clothes out of storage.

 

The brothers had stopped eating and just looked up at him with confused expressions. In their entire life, a winter hunting trip had never been preceded by making sure they had shiny new clothes to withstand the elements.

 

“What’s the matter?” Carl asked when he noticed they had gone silent. “Me and Dad went down there yesterday to get stuff for us and the girls. We’re going sledding tomorrow.”

 

They hadn’t found much in the way of things for _snow fun_ in their raids, but the nearby houses had plenty to gather in that department. Plenty of the houses they emptied had snow gear for kids and adults alike. They also uncovered a good number of sleds and inner tubes in the garages or storage of the houses. They'd found a snowboarding shop as well. And while not really planning on a trip up a mountain for that kind of fun, the store had a good number of brand new winter clothes that they were happy for.

 

Of course the military supply store had a decent number of standard issue parkas, beanies and gloves as well. And they had taken everything from the Bass Pro shop that had similar items, more on the commercial end though.  

 

“I didn’t know if you’d want to pick out your own stuff, so I left it for later,” Rick added when he realized Daryl’s face wasn’t really changing. “Did you not want that?”

 

Daryl cleared his throat and sent a look over to Merle. The other man was looking down at his food again, but Daryl could see he was getting ready to say something so he kept quiet.

 

Sure enough, when Carl said his name Merle looked up with a grin, “Well now, I think some new boots will do us just fine.” He leaned back in his chair and brought his foot up on the table. It already had a boot on it, albeit an old and pretty filthy boot. “Ya think they got my size?”

 

“Oh gross,” Carl grumbled as he shoved Merle’s foot away.

 

They had received more than boots when they visited Maggie the next day. They had been set up with a whole winter kit of hats, gloves, coats, undershirts, and heavier pants. Merle had selected an all black look by the time his brother got there.

 

Daryl had met him down at the armory after helping Rick and Lori put the girls in big fluffy snow gear, and helped Carl with his boots after he’d pulled on his own outfit. Rick and Carl had plans to spend the day out on the big hill behind the lake sledding and playing in the snow, and they'd mentioned that some of the other families would be joining them with their own kids.

 

It was going to be a nice family day on the farm, but Daryl and Merle needed to be outside of the walls for a bit. Daryl because he was still waiting on his friend to show and occasionally, not often, but occasionally would need the space of the open distance to get his head sorted. Merle was going because no way in hell was his brother going hunting without him.

 

The two of them had taken over most of the trash runs and the hunting, even though others offered. They occasionally took Kyle since Merle said it was a sin the boy was from the south and couldn’t hunt.

 

Kyle was like them. He could talk just fine in social situations, but he preferred not to. And for all Merle could be loud around the group, get him in the woods and he was a ghost. Silent unless he absolutely needed to speak.

 

They’d gone out beyond the outer perimeter, hoping to have some luck with the deer population. Merle had diverted to the left as soon as they hit the trees while Daryl had kept straight. They had to be about a mile in before Daryl found any trace of an animal on his path.

 

Merle had two rabbits, which he’d happily informed Daryl of over the mic.

 

“Seeing some weird tracks” Daryl sent back. The snow was disturbed but there was no blood anywhere. There were some deer tracks headed away, spaced out enough that he figured it had to be running. But the mess in front of him was just that, a mess. Not as much ‘tracks’ as it was a disturbance.

 

He figured if this was a fight with humans or walkers, there ought to be some kind of blood. He caught a flash of movement in the distance and looked up to see Merle quickly but silently making his way over.

 

He stopped a few feet away and they both studied the scene a little more. The deer tracks were easy to pick out, but the mess in that one area didn’t appear to follow them out.

 

“Which one d’we follow, ya think?” Daryl murmured into the small clearing. Merle nodded his head towards whatever had made the disturbance and they started heading right.

 

When they got to an area where the snow wasn’t so deep, they could make out that the tracks were made by a person wearing sneakers. It was a male, unless the woman had some pretty big feet, and they weren’t made by a walker. Too straight a path for that.

 

They came to the edge of the forest bordering a neighborhood and stopped about twenty feet inside the tree line. They had a good view of the houses and dropped closer to the ground to settle in and watch.

 

Nearly two hours went by before they saw any movement. Two men were outside of a house at least two hundred feet away, maybe more. They could make out the figures, but not too many details. But they did notice that they weren’t dressed for the weather. Sure, they had coats and hats.

 

If the group had come to this neighborhood looking for supplies, they were going to be disappointed. This was one of the first ones the farm had emptied.

 

“Dane.” Merle said into his radio. They had the mics for each other, but anyone leaving the farm carried a radio to call into whoever was on shift in the armory in case something happened.

 

“Dane, you copy?” Merle repeated.

 

“No he’s out with Leslie, this is Anders. What d’ya got Sergeant?” Anders had taken to calling the military members by their rank some time ago. Funny thing, there were a lot of people named ‘sergeant’ living on the farm if one were to follow his example.

 

“Got two men out in Pine Valley subdivision.” Merle told him. He didn’t raise his voice, just reported what he was seeing. “Disregard. Got two men and a kid.”

 

They watched as a young girl came out to join the men. Well, it looked like a girl to Daryl, but at this distance, he couldn’t be sure. Definitely a kid though, maybe ten years old, maybe a little less.

 

“What’s your location? You need support?” Anders shot back.

 

They filled him in on the tracks and that they’d followed them to their current position, but told him no on the support. They wanted to watch for a bit, then they’d backtrack to the road. A ride into the farm in a couple hours wouldn’t be turned down though.

 

Neither man was stupid. They knew the presence of another group this close to the farm was going to be ringing some alarm bells back home. And Daryl would eat his new boots if Rick wasn’t the next call Anders made.

 

Hell, he was probably flagging someone down right now to go find his partner and get him all spun up. Daryl took a moment to smile at the thought. Not that he wanted Rick to worry, but he figured in about twenty minutes he call into the armory and calm him down.

 

For the time being, they were watching.

 

They noticed the kid seemed upset about something. From this distance they had to go off body language only. But they saw her make a sweep with her arms at the surrounding houses as she made whatever argument she was trying to.

 

The men were doing what they could to calm her, and one of them kneeled down to pull her into a hug, which she brushed aside. They watched her storm back into the house. She couldn’t be much older than Carl looked right now, so about eight, nine years old. But she looked every bit a sulky teenager as she stomped up the steps.

 

She hadn’t raised her voice though. None of them had. So whatever fit the girl was having, she was smart enough not to draw attention.

 

Merle held his hand out to Daryl and when he looked over he could see the man had a pair of binoculars. They were the good kind too. Daryl rolled his eyes at his brother and called him a cheater while doing a quick up/down glance at him and taking in the all-new outfit and hunting gear he was wearing. Even the bag he was using to carry the rabbits was high-end.

 

Merle scoffed “Oh whatever. Like you ain’t in new rags too. Can’t be mad at ole Merle for thinkin’ o’ grabbin’em when you didn’t.”

 

Daryl shrugged himself back onto his stomach and pulled the binoculars up to see. As he did, he watched another man come out of the house and join the other two. He looked like late thirties, maybe forties. The first two men were facing away from the hunters as they talked to the man on the porch.

 

Daryl could see the third man looked sad, or tired. Probably both. He remembered when they all looked like that.

 

Watching people to see if they’d be a good fit for the farm took time. It shouldn’t be the kind of thing that was rushed. Aaron had taught him that back in Alexandria, and it was solid advice.

 

If nothing else though, the way the men had been with the child looked promising. They obviously cared for her, and there was affection offered to her by at least one of them.

 

One of the men turned around to watch the rest of the neighborhood and Daryl froze. “Kal,” he whispered.

 

“You want me to call in?” Merle asked, having misheard. He was already pulling up the radio. Daryl kept a hand on the binoculars but reached out to the right for the radio.

 

Pulling it in close he clicked the button. “Anders, its Daryl. You get Rick yet?”

 

Rick answered instead of the gunny. “It’s me and Maggie. You got something?” Daryl loved that the man could be all business when he needed to be. No fear in his voice. Just a calm request for a situation report.

 

“Yeah, I got Kal. Two more, and a kid.” He told them. Merle wouldn’t know the men, and Daryl hadn’t really done a sit-down detailed explanation of every little thing that had happened since Merle died.

 

Rick had talked about Hilltop and the other communities they had found, they all sort of had during the meetings. But it had been more focused on the logistical side. Less about the specific people. Which is why Merle asked a quick “He a good guy?”

 

“Yeah,” Daryl told him. “Yeah, he’s a good guy.”

 

He hadn’t told anyone but Rick about that calls he’d made back in the beginning. Not even his brother. But if Kal was here, so far south from where they’d met him… It couldn’t be a coincidence. And as the other man turned around, Daryl recognized him as Eduardo.

 

Still not who he was looking for, but it was another connection, and enough of a reason for Daryl to want to head down there.

 

“Rick?” He asked into the radio again. “He’s got Eduardo with him. I want to head down.”

 

“No Daryl.” It was Maggie this time. “We’re sending Aaron and Rick out to the neighborhood. Don’t move until they get there.”

 

Daryl knew these were good guys. They’d been on the same side during the chaos with the Saviors, but he accepted her call on the matter and settled in to watch the small group in the house.

 

Within ten minutes, he saw two pick-ups traveling up to the neighborhood and called in on the radio to direct Rick to the right house.

 

The men must have heard the trucks coming because they’d scrambled back inside. Daryl would have to reprimand them later for not thinking of the fact that the ground was covered in snow and it wasn’t too hard to see that people had been there.

 

Merle pulled his rifle off his back and fixed the sights on the door just as it was opening again. Daryl was still watching through the binoculars as Eduardo came out onto the porch with his own weapon pointed at the two new arrivals.

 

Rick and Aaron took off their hats right about the same time as Eduardo jumped off the porch to grab them in a hug, a huge smile on his face.

 

Daryl gestured for Merle to put the weapon away as they got up and started walking out of the trees and down the small hill. Two other men and the child had come out to the porch as well. Daryl saw Rick look over his way then and say something back to the child.

 

She wasted no time and immediately started running in their direction.

 

He was right all along. It was a little girl. He had freed his hands just as a much younger version of Enid ran into him.

 

“Paul said you were here.” She said into his stomach. “He said you have a safe place.”

 

Daryl looked up to his brother’s shocked face. It was no secret that Daryl had formed friendships after Merle. He usually took a break at work a few days a week to go spend time with Carol and the dogs.

 

Carol had been taken with the animals, especially the K9s, and was working with Seth to ‘reintroduce’ them to civilian life. Their hope was to have the dogs out of the kennels and integrated into the residences as soon as possible.

 

Carol was one thing though. And Merle had seen the way she acted like a pseudo big sister to him enough to understand that relationship. But he was always surprised at how easily the kids took to Daryl. A new adult was sometimes a little cautious around him. Of course the rest of the farm trusted and respected him, and he’d been getting better at conversation, but he was still so quiet around the people he didn’t know that well.

 

The kids didn’t seem to have many reservations with him though. They lit up when he came by to see Caroline and Judith in the schoolhouse/nursery.

 

“Sure we do,” he told the girl. “We got a whole farm for us.” She gave him a small smile and backed up.

 

Merle watched in silent delight as the young girl, who clearly seemed to remember her past turned into a more self-contained but still very observant girl. It made her look older, and it reminded him a hell of a lot of Carl.

 

Knowing she didn’t know who he was, and wanting to be back in the main group at the house for the introductions, Merle kept quiet as Daryl started to walk forward. He encouraged Enid to turn around and walk beside them as they kept up a quick pace.

 

Things at the house were not as happy-go-lucky as they would’ve liked. Paul, there was no way Merle was calling him Jesus, pulled Daryl in for a tight hug. So did the other two men Daryl had recognized.

 

The third man they’d seen was Enid’s father, and not knowing the new arrivals, he kept a little bit of a distance.

 

When Daryl had made his call to Paul back in the beginning, he told the hunter he’d had something to take care of first. That was apparently tracking the others down. Kal and Edwardo were the only ones who remembered. Well, the only one’s he could find who’d remembered anyway.

 

Enid was a little different of a story. Her parents had not remembered a thing. But she had found Paul on the internet. Unfortunately, there was no Maggie Rhee for her to find, and Carl and Rick Grimes weren’t around by then.

 

But she’d found Paul and he told her he’d wait until it happened. Then he’d come for her. She was able to save her parents this time, but convincing them to travel with the three men hadn’t been easy. They still didn’t believe that she or the others had remembered this all happening.

 

As the weather turned colder, her mother had started to cough. At first it wasn’t so bad, but two days ago it got worse. She hadn’t been able to get out of bed this morning, and she was running a pretty high fever.

 

And they had no meds.

 

Rick had radioed in for the ambulance to come out to their location and got a quick reply that Terry and Michonne were on their way. But Merle decided against waiting and walked in the house. Daryl and Enid trailed behind after they explained to the girl that Merle was both Daryl’s brother and a medic.

 

He found the woman about as he expected. She was covered in sweat even though the house didn’t have any heat and it was pretty cold outside. “Any of you got a watch?” he asked the room. Enid’s father and Kal had joined them, but it was Enid herself who handed over the small child’s watch she had kept for whatever reason.

 

Merle handed off the bag of rabbits and rifle to Daryl as he knelt down next to the woman. They gave him room as he took her vitals, checked her pupils and tested for sensitivity. She wasn’t incoherent, but she wasn’t entirely there either.

 

Still she was responsive enough during the cursory exam that Merle sat back on his heels and told them to radio in that he was pretty sure they were looking at pneumonia. “It’s in the sinuses and with the fever, anyone around her’s been exposed.”

 

Terry agreed when he arrived. She was laying on a blanket on the floor and they’d wheeled the stretcher into the house already. Daryl stepped back with Enid as they watched Merle and Terry load her onto the gurney, then down to the ambulance. They had both put on face masks and pulled on gloves once they joined her in the back.

 

Terry already had an IV waiting to put fluids back into her system as merle was looking in the med cabinets for the antibiotics. Daryl closed the door behind them just as Merle was pulling a clear liquid into a syringe and pushing into the port line of the IV.

 

Watching his brother at work was something Daryl had never felt more grateful for. He could be rough around the edges. They both could. Oh who was he kidding? Both brothers had it in them to be downright assholes.

 

But seeing Merle so focused on treating a sick woman… he saw confidence, and competence. He was proud of his brother in this moment.

 

Michonne gave a quick greeting to the familiar faces, but quickly climbed into the driver’s seat and carefully navigated away from the neighborhood.

 

They’d left masks for the rest of them, and no one questioned putting them on. If this was the old world, being around someone with pneumonia was part and parcel of being in society. It happened. If you got sick, you went to the doctors and they gave you something to make it better.

 

Even though they had meds on the farm, this was still the apocalypse. Rick and Daryl looked over at each other when they were putting on their masks. They could see very clearly that they both were remembering the prison.

 

“I think we should see if Lori can take Caroline tonight,” Rick mentioned as they were loading up the group’s belongings into the back of one of the pick-ups. Daryl sent him a firm look of agreement. They didn’t like it, but it would be better to be safe than sorry. Caroline had spent the better part of the day with Rick and Carl, as well as Judith and Lori. She might not be difficult about them not being there when she went to sleep if she was around the others.

 

The bags were loaded quickly, but that was because they didn't have much. They'd lost their truck a few days ago which was probably part of the reason Enid’s mother got as bad as she did.

 

Aaron took Kal and Eduardo with him in one truck, while Rick took Enid and her father in the second. Paul and Daryl grabbed the extra blankets from behind the driver’s seat and covered themselves in the bed of Rick’s truck. They weren’t going to be traveling too fast, but it really was cold, and any speed was going to make that worse.

 

It wasn’t exactly how he thought his friend would find him, but huddled under the blankets and bags in the back of a pick-up, headed for home and a warm cup of whatever was handy… Daryl would take it.

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little look into the winter goings-on... also maybe, just maybe, laying the ground work for some familiar faces... Perhaps friends.... perhaps not.... 
> 
> hmmmmm.......

The following day after Paul’s arrival was Monday. And Daryl walked into the armory to a much different sight than he thought he’d find. It was still early in the morning, and he’d left Rosita to oversee the garage. He knew Maggie would be in, Selia too.

 

Jacqui liked to take the afternoon shifts and give Selia a chance to spend time with her family, so he wasn’t expecting her to be in. But there she was. So was his brother.

 

He noticed Hershel, Rick, Hank, Abe, Glenn, both Sheriffs, Michonne, and several of the usual raid crews were in attendance as well. The amount of people this early in the morning was Daryl’s first clue that there was something going on. People mostly waited until lunch if they wanted to bring something to the council. With the raids on hold for the winter, business had been slow.

 

The second thing he noticed was the tension in the room. The air around the table was a little frantic, a lot of people talking, having side conversations, pointing out areas on the smattering of maps laid out across the table top.

 

Rick looked up to see him in the door and waved him over. “Good,” he said as he pulled Daryl closer. “I was just about to come get you.”

 

Daryl nodded and looked down at the papers to see if he could make out what was happening. He was just about to ask for a clue when Hershel spoke up and hushed the room.

 

“Merle, when did you say this happened again?” He was seated at the table with a road map of Georgia in front of him.

 

Maggie had gotten a few of the large maps laminated before the walkers hit, and they were the _strategy_ maps when routes were being planned for the raids. She had taken dry erase markers to plot out areas to hit and several paths to and from the farm, wiping it clean once the raid was complete.

 

There was another map, identical to the road map, hanging on the wall. It was also laminated, but instead of dry erase marker, they used sharpie. The farm was shaded in green, but there was a steadily growing perimeter around the farm, marked off in sections. The raids were all carried out using this map to keep track of their progress in depleting the resources within each section.

 

Daryl took a look over at the map on the wall and could see someone had outlined additional sections, expanding the perimeter. King County was also outlined on the map. He knew they weren’t going to go now, but apparently this was in the plans once the weather improved.

 

With winter having only _just_ started, Daryl was certain he wouldn’t see that road map for a while. But it was sitting in front of Hershel, covered in marker. Looking a little closer at the table, he could see the maps with a closer focus of King County and Greene County were also marked up. Areas had been circled, with notes written next to them.

 

Merle was standing on the other side of Rick with the King County map in front of him. “It was after the first winter,” he answered. “Still spring, but getting warmer.”

 

Daryl had never really seen his brother during his time in the Army. Merle had left as soon as he’d been able, and been gone for over five years. When he came back, he’d dived headfirst into the traditional redneck lifestyle that Daryl hadn’t really noticed a change.

 

Lately, he’d been seeing a different side. Honestly, the whole time on the farm had been a different Merle than what he was used to growing up. His brother hadn’t really been an asshole to anyone since stepping foot on the farm and having Hershel guide him to a cot in the barn.

 

The older man had immediately welcomed Merle into their family, but he maintained an air of authority and set down some hard lines about behavior. Nothing too extreme, just some basic courtesy guidelines and some talk about everyone being due respect in their own right.

 

And Merle had accepted it all right from the start. Daryl wondered, not for the first time, what kind of man his brother might have been if their father had been cut from the same cloth as Hershel. With the man’s age and the leadership role he maintained, it was hard for Daryl to look at him and not see a father figure.

 

As it was, looking over at Merle and seeing his brother with a clear focus and sober voice, he realized that the man was not the same one he’d thought he grew up with. For the second time in as many days, Daryl realized no one would look at this Merle today and see ‘redneck’.

 

He listened to his brother continue to describe the location and timing of a group of soldiers the Governor had killed back in the first timeline. Without any of his usual _southern_ speech, Merle explained about his complicity in their death, and about the remorse he felt for that.

 

Daryl glanced over at Michonne and noticed her looking down at the table. She and Merle had taken some time during his recovery, when the fences were still going up, to get on the same page with everything that had happened before.

 

He didn’t know the details of that conversation, and he’d never asked either of them about it. But after that talk, the two survivors had an understanding. They weren’t best friends, and probably never would be. But they had accepted each other and would trust the other with their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

 

“They wanted a place to go,” Merle added. “They didn’t seem like bad guys. They were just looking for a place to call home.”

 

Maggie looked over to Merle and nodded. “If they survived the last winter, they’ll probably make it this one too.” She was standing next to her father looking down over the road map. They’d already circled Woodbury, but she held out a marker to Merle as she shifted the map across the table to him. “Try and remember where exactly they were camped on the road.”

 

“If we get there earlier, those other ones from the chopper might not die.” Michonne spoke up. She had come over to Merle’s side and gently nudged him over to take a look at the map. The nudge seemed to be calming for Merle as he let out a long sigh and slid into a chair next to her to go over their memories.

 

Anders chuckled as he got up from his own seat to bring a coffee pot around for refills. He handed Daryl a mug as he passed by and shook his head. “Gets me every time you all do this,” he told the group. “These memories of yours are like witchcraft.”

 

“Hey, if that’s what it takes to outlast this thing,” Rick spoke up after adding some sugar to his new cup, “I’ll take it.”

 

Hershel grumbled across the table at him and told the room he was going to be praying for all of the heathens present who had nodded along with Rick just then. There were a few chuckles in response, and most of the room outside of the core group began to make their exit.

 

Maggie reminded them all to empty their cups and place them in the bin to be cleaned before they left. The trip to the restaurant for the new kitchen appliances included nearly everything that wasn’t nailed down and could also be used on the farm. There had been several plastic bins used to buss tables after diners had left. They’d placed one in each of the guard towers, and just about anywhere people gathered and ate or drank. It was easy to carry one bin for dishes than to try and keep track of all the miscellaneous dining ware.

 

“What’s the other maps for?” Daryl asked finally. He sat next to Rick, fixing his own coffee. Rick had pulled the King County map out from under the one Merle and Michonne were looking at and moved it in front of him and Daryl. If they were going to Woodbury, why were the other maps on the table?

 

“Ah,” Rick started with a grin. “That’s for the other helicopter.”

 

Daryl snorted. “You and those damn helicopters.”

 

Crowe was making some notes on the map of Greene County, but he filled Daryl in on what he’d missed. “Your friend Paul was having a talk with Leslie last night about the fuel on the farm. Did you know he has a degree in chemical engineering?”

 

Daryl had not known that. Somehow in the apocalypse, that just never seemed to come up.

 

“Maggie likes this building so much she’s decided to put off having that office of hers built for a while,” Crowe continued. “We’re building a hanger.”

 

“Warehouse,” Maggie corrected.

 

“Hanger, warehouse… It’s a big building.” Crowe smiled back at her. “Been plotting out some of the farms nearby we think will be good for crops next year too. Your boy wants to plant soy. I know some of the farms around here already had that going, just trying to remember which.”

 

Hershel mentioned he’d bring Otis down later to see if he could point them in the right direction. Their farm had crops already that were mainly focused on produce for the residents. They had harvested some of the nearby land a few months back, and Rick had mentioned something about using the land outside of the fence for growing more. The feed for the animals could be moved out to the surrounding land. There’d be enough space for coastal grass, some alfalfa, and the soy was good for animal meal too.

 

“Are we trying to fence it off?” Daryl asked. The farmers were led by Rick and Otis. Even though he knew Rick could handle himself in a bad situation, he didn’t like the idea of him working outside of the gates so much.

 

“To some degree,” Crowe answered. “Obviously, we’re going to have a tough time getting something in place like we have here, but we can figure something out.”

 

He thought back to Alexandria and Hilltop with their walls. They were by no means as stable as the fence around the farm, but they were decent. He nodded and studied the areas already marked off on the Greene County map. They had their farm shaded in with a green marker, same as the map on the wall, and several nearby plots circled around it.

 

“We might think about getting Morgan to put some more gates up on the roads around here,” Michonne said. “They would only add about ten minutes to our trips on either end, and getting a fence through the forest would be difficult, but it’d be an extra barrier between the farm and any outsiders.”

 

She was still going over the road map with Merle, but she looked up to address the room. “If we’re going to be adding areas to protect, those gates could be put up far enough out to cover them too.”

 

“You thinking of the Saviors?” Rick asked.

 

“Hard not to with Jesus here,” she said quietly. They were all happy to have their newest arrivals, but thinking of Paul traveling from Virginia to the farm did sort of bring to mind that other people might have gotten the same forewarning they’d had. Paul’s group making it meant there was no reason why others wouldn’t be able to do the same.

 

With the Governor dead, the Saviors posed the next biggest threat their group had faced. Them and Terminus. Apart from going on a massive attack, and destroying the structures as well as the people, no one had decided on a plan for Terminus. If Gareth and his people were running it again, and they didn’t remember the past, then it was far enough away to not be a danger to the farm. But it was still a danger to others, and it wasn’t sitting right with the council that they might let unsuspecting wanderers become victim to cannibals.

 

If they attacked, no one could be left alive this time. It was something they all acknowledged, even Dale. The social worker in Dale wanted to see how things could work out for the better. He firmly believed that if a person had two choices in front of them: one good the other bad, then that person would _try_ to do the right thing.

 

He had kept his faith in humanity this time too, but after Grady, and hearing from the others talk about their experiences, he was getting better at agreeing with the hard calls where someone had to die to keep the other’s safe.

 

Certainly, the latest test with Milo and Miguel affirmed in his mind that there were people in this world who, despite having better choices, were just bad people. And they were going to do bad things. And they weren’t going to stop unless people like Rick and Daryl, and Seth, and Merle, and Michonne, and so many others now living at the farm stopped them.

 

So if Gareth and Terminus had to burn, Dale was resolved that it would be a necessary act of destruction. And there _was_ the possibility that some of those ‘bad’ people would be looking for them this time around.

 

Rick had told people his name freely in the past. He’d never once imagined that something like this would be happening, when enemies knowing his name and being able to locate him based on that would be an issue.

 

If the Saviors had remembered, if Negan had remembered… would he be looking for Rick? Would Gareth?

 

Having the farm standing, being able to save and provide for this many people, and live the way they currently were, was like winning the lottery. One in a billion chance that they had worked hard for to be sure, but how long could their luck hold out?

 

People wouldn’t always be the friendly kind, and the farm knew it. There was a reason they had stockpiled so many weapons before things went to hell.

 

* * *

 

 

Over the next few months, the farm saw the new kitchen finished in Apartment 2, and the new arrivals moved in. They had spent the first week in the clinic to treat Enid’s mother, but also to quarantine the others.

 

The farms occupants who had been in contact with them were given booster shots and loaded up with vitamins, and Maggie was beyond thrilled when the sickness didn’t make it out of the clinic. Enid’s father had contracted the illness as well, which they had all expected, but no one else.

 

What they learned though, was that they didn’t have a quarantine room set up.

 

It went on the list with every other structure they wanted to build, but Leslie said they had done fine with the back exam rooms being converted into clean rooms with plastic tarps. If they needed it again, it would be easy enough to set up.

 

The animals were the most work for the farm. Carol had shown Tim around the cattle farm early on and with Hershel’s guidance, he had been appointed the primary oversight for them as well as the pigs and chickens. The goats were with the horses. But there were only a few of them, so making a new structure wasn’t feasible.

 

Carol split her time between the kennels and the cattle area. She helped out with the egg collections in the morning, but by the afternoon she and Seth were over with the K9s.

 

The size of the herd they had over at the horse stables was outgrowing the space they had for them. Lori and Hershel had both speculated on it one morning during a run, or walk around the perimeter. With the weather, Seth and Anders had accepted a lighter PT schedule if someone requested it. The ice on the roads outside of the fence was a real concern, but they had enough sand and salt from their raids to take care of the roads on the farm.

 

Still, some had mentioned a fear of running in the weather and were given the choice to walk instead.

 

After Hershel and Lori mentioned it to the council one Monday, the group had agreed to set up a large paddock in the north east section of the farm. It was where Glenn and Tyler wanted the extra cabins to go, but until that happened, they agreed the additional space for the horses would be a good idea.

 

The fencing took just over a week to go up. After the kitchen was up and running, the builders were happy to have something to keep them occupied. But with all of them working on it, it hadn’t been a big project.

 

It did, however, mean a trip outside the gates. Not too far, there were several farms very close to their location that had fencing for animals. A trip with the flatbed was conducted, with a scouting group sent out first to check for ice and herds. All in all, that trip for the horse fence took a full two days. No one was willing to go fast on the roads, and even though the other farms were close, there were still a lot of turns to make.

 

But it was good to have an idea of what the roads looked like. They had kept up with the trash runs, and the hunting, but this trip took them a little further out into the nearby areas. They were happy to note that the roads weren’t too bad.

 

A couple of big snowfalls had come in, and the weather was consistently cold, but the winter wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. The trip actually yielded more information for future planning. If they could get some walls up, the nearby farms would be a great alternate grazing area for the cattle and horses. It would mean loading them in trailers, and the cattle weren’t likely to be as easy as the horses, but they could think on that some more later.

 

Otis had mentioned perhaps only hauling the horses out for that. The cattle were manageable on the land they currently had. No sense in moving them if they didn’t have to. But if Glenn and Tyler got those cabins, they would need somewhere for the horses to go.

 

Once the north addition was fenced off for the horses, Shawn, Chris, and Lori could be seen riding half of the heard up in the mornings. The three of them rode bareback, one horse at a time with only a halter and blanket before turning them out in the new pasture and catching a ride back down to the stables with the truck running perimeters. In the evening, they made the same trip just in reverse.

 

Once the weather turned warmer, Jacqui declared the threat of ice to be passed, and the planning of raids was reinstated.

 

The first item was the warehouse. They needed the structure built before the helicopter from King County could be retrieved. They didn’t have anyone to fly it, but if they could get to those soldiers before the crash they would.

 

That was the second highest order of business for them. Maggie and Merle had spent a lot more time going over what they would need for that run. The first thing decided was that Merle would not be going. He didn’t think anyone would have a reason to remember him, but just in case, he was staying behind.

 

Michonne, on the other hand, was going. She and Andrea were familiar with the area, and the two women understood how important it was to the older Dixon brother that they try. There were about twenty soldiers as near as Merle could remember, and Michonne insisted on two teams headed out just in case things weren’t as friendly as last time.

 

With both areas being hit at the same time, one crew for the warehouse supplies, and two more for the soldiers, the farm was back to running tight schedules.

 

The day-to-day business of running a farm couldn’t be overlooked. Rick and Otis were needed with the crops. And Hershel, Lori, Tim, Shawn, and Chris were needed with the animals. Carol took over Merle’s place on raids and Seth turned over the K9 duties to Anders so he could join as well.

 

Otis had recruited Paul to assist with the crops outside the walls, and after the first week of setting that up, they were both big advocates for those additional walls going up sooner rather than later.

 

But the warehouse was needed first. Thankfully, the raids to gather materials only took a week, and the builder crews got started on the construction under Mike and Morgan’s direction. The two men worked well as leaders, but some of the crew had been tapped to fill in on the trip to Woodbury, so it wasn’t as fast as they would have liked.

 

That being said, if the Woodbury crew came back with 20+ men, the build might just pick up its pace a bit.

 

Daryl was on the Woodbury trip. He had Rosita to fill in at the garage, so he wasn’t worried there. And Miguel and Milo had resumed their trash duties. With Merle to watch Caroline and Judith in the evenings, the Grimes-Dixon family was well tended.

 

Carl had been helping out with the girls when both Lori and Merle were gone due to the horses or guard duty shifts, but Merle shifted his schedule to where he’d be gone nights and return in the morning when they were just waking up. And they had Beth and Amy down in the main house to keep the girls if they were all needed elsewhere during the daytime.

 

Rick was spending so much time in the fields on the farm, or in the fields outside the gates that by the time he returned in the evening, he was out almost as soon as dinner was over. Carl and Lori took care of the evening meals, often bringing some food up from the dining hall in the evening so he could shower instead of trying to make it to the community meal time.

 

Keeping busy was a good way for him to not worry about his partner out on the road for what they knew would be a minimum of a two week trip. Maggie had removed him from the guard rotation due to his long hours needed in the fields, but he tried to pitch in when he could and relieve someone a couple hours early if Paul and Otis had things in hand.

 


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're on the road again!

The Woodbury team had been gone for three weeks, and Rick knew they were going to hit four by the time they headed back. The radios the farm had found in the Granger warehouse had a far better reach than the ones from either Sheriff station, and allowed for communication between the farm and the teams when they went this far out.

 

The crews on the road checked in with the armory once a day. And once a night, Daryl had called into Rick. They’d switched to their own channel to keep their talks off the main air, but the team had more than one radio. They had one for each of the twelve members. Their talks were brief, but it was a good way to keep the anxiety at bay. And Rick really was exhausted, he’d fallen asleep on Daryl more than once over the last few weeks.

 

While Rick had been down in the fields, the builders had poured the foundation they needed for the warehouse. It would take a month to set, so the crews had been diverted to the task of gathering the supplies needed. Another trip out to the nearby lumber yards, both commercial and local, got them the materials for the inner frame work.

 

They’d ‘acquired’ the full line of construction vehicles from the same local company that had worked on the farm in the early days. They came in handy for the steel frame skeleton the warehouse had. It had also been Mike’s first foray into excavating a site for a build. He was pleased with the way it turned out, and Morgan was excited to get into a _larger_ welding project than the two fences on the outer perimeter of the farm.

 

Rick caught up with Mike and Morgan one evening over dinner. He had finished early for the day and was able to grab a shower and head over to the main house with Carl and Lori to pick up Caroline and Judith in time to sit and enjoy a community meal with the others.

 

Mike had Andre with him, and Rick invited him to sit with them just as Merle was headed over to the table. Morgan and Duane followed with their own plates and the discussion turned to the build as they waited for Jenny.

 

“It should only be another week before the rest of the frame can go up,” Mike told them. “We’ve got enough people that it shouldn’t take too long, maybe a few weeks.”

 

Morgan nodded and looked across the table to address Rick. “What does the group say? Are they headed back soon?”

 

Rick knew Mike talked to Michonne just as much as he talked to Daryl, but he answered anyway. “They’re still looking. They found the spot from before, but it was empty. Didn’t look like anyone had been there yet either, so they wanted to wait.”

 

Daryl had mentioned going back to check out the prison before he left. He’d said that if they had time, it would be good to see if anyone had set up shop. As it turned out, no one had. The fields were overgrown, but the fences were standing, just like last time.

 

There were half thought out ideas to keep the prison as a back-up in case they needed an escape, but had settled on it being a _worst case_ scenario kind of thing. They had the Sheriff’s compound in town to house them in the event of a disaster on the farm, not to mention the shelter-in-place containers.

 

Still, it was an idea. Plan D for now.

 

“Sure could use those extra hands,” Mike added as he fed Andre a bite before taking his own.

 

Carl excused himself just as Jenny came over. He and Enid often took off to go play video games or read comics, or sometimes just walk the farm roads after dinner. Lori smiled and gave him a kiss and hug before he took off. Rick did the same. Lori knew he was older mentally now, but he was still in the body of her little boy. If she could smother him with kisses in front of his friends and embarrass him, she was only too happy to do it.

 

“If they can find the soldiers, we’ll get those extra hands.” Rick answered after Carl had left. “We have the space for them,” he added as he waved his arm towards the doors on the walls of the building they were in. “Should get them settled quick enough.”

 

It wasn’t until two days later, as he was pulling his jeans on and getting ready to head out for a day of work in the field that the radio on his nightstand crackled alive. “Rick, we got ‘em.”

 

Daryl’s voice was one of his favorite things to wake up to, and while this was well after he’d already had his shower, it was a nice surprise.

 

“I’m here,” he said quickly after scooping up the radio.

 

“We’re alright. The soldiers were in Woodbury.” Daryl told him. “They’re camped out in that same town.”

 

Rick knew part of the plan was to head to Woodbury from the beginning. The group had taken two of the semis out on the run and had plans to empty the town if they couldn’t find what they came for.

 

As it happened, there were only eleven men in the unit that they found. Not twenty. Merle had been wrong about that. Both Lt Welles and Corporal Brady, as well as most of the others remembered what had happened before. Welles had been taken into Woodbury before the Governor killed him, and remembered enough of the trip that finding their way to the town hadn’t been too hard.

 

They had come looking for revenge. What they found instead was a town empty of the living. There had been more than enough walkers to keep them busy, but no fences to keep any more out.

 

When Michonne led the convoy into the town that morning, they saw a couple dozen walkers in the street, with the soldiers on a roof picking them off from above. Quickly exiting their vehicles, they provided support from the ground and had the group taken care of within a few minutes.

 

Welles had come down to meet them with a few other soldiers and they made introductions. Michonne wasted no time. “We were expecting to find you on the road.”

 

Daryl noticed the men tense up at her words and kept a steady hand on his weapon.

 

“When you weren’t there, I had to think that you might’ve remembered all this happening?” She phrased it as a question and it had the desired effect of calming them down. But only slightly.

 

“The people in this town killed us one time.” Brady told her as he came down the steps to meet them. “It won’t happen again.”

 

Andrea walked up to the group at that. “They killed me too. The man who ordered that… he’s dead.” She could see that the men in front of her were having a hard time trusting, but they were listening. It was better than it could’ve gone. “I killed him after I woke up the second time. I’m Andrea, this is Michonne.” She made introductions but stayed on target. “That’s Daryl over there. The man you’re talking about tortured him and a few of the others in our group. He’d brainwashed Daryl’s brother Merle before Merle realized what kind of a man he was. So he killed him too.”

 

She explained that they knew about the soldiers from Merle. And Daryl felt it was best to keep quiet and let the girls explain that whole mess. If they lied to them, it would only turn ugly if the men came to the farm. Eventually, they’d learn that Merle had been with the Governor when they were killed, and they didn’t need anyone feeling like a little revenge.

 

“We have a farm with big fences, and over fifty people to run it.” Michonne told them. “Merle asked us to come out to see if we could find you. We think you’d be an asset, and he wants to do right by you all after what happened last time.”

 

One of the soldiers was standing at the top of the porch steps from the building they’d been in and asked about the trucks the group had.

 

Hank took out a walker that was wandering over from between some nearby buildings and turned to answer for them. “We’re cleaning out the town. Well, whatever fits in those trucks anyway.”

 

“Like we said, there’s over fifty people on the farm.” Daryl spoke up for the first time. “And if you join, make that over sixty.” He could see the other soldiers still inside the building, and he almost didn’t blame them for not wanting to make themselves a target again. “We gotta spend a couple days here emptying stores and mapping out the place. You guys help load and we got a room for each of you back home.”

 

Brady’s face showed he believed them. There was something to be said for gut instincts. Some of the others looked a little wary still, but none of them were posturing. “It won’t take us more than a day to load the trucks,” Brady said.

 

Aaron smiled at the young man. “The two days aren’t just for loading.” Seeing the confusion, he continued. “Our home is a safe haven, that’s true. And we want to take in everyone we find. But there are others out there who would destroy what we have. Try to take it for themselves, or maybe just not feel like being part of the community and put the rest of us in danger.”

 

There were nodding heads on both sides of the groups, and more of the soldiers were coming out of the building to take part in the conversation.

 

Aaron kept going to ensure they understood. “We have children, loved ones, back home. We can’t risk their safety if one of your men is going to be a problem.”

 

“Aaron, what exactly are you defining as a problem?” came a woman’s voice from the building.

 

Daryl’s jaw dropped as he realized he recognized that voice. He wasn’t fast enough though.

 

Michonne had already put her sword away and was running up the steps as Daryl watched Sasha come into the doorframe. She smiled as Michonne grabbed her in a tight hug and laughed as some of the soldiers quickly shuffled out of the way.

 

Bob and Tyreese side-stepped the two women and came down to join the others. But not before Michonne grabbed onto their shirts for her own greeting.

 

Bob was all smiles as he met familiar faces, and some new ones. Tyreese was a little more reserved, but he seemed happy enough.

 

Daryl knew that some people weren’t cut out for the constant onslaught of death and destruction they’d had the first time. Honestly, no one should be. Some handled it better that others, but eventually, everyone broke. Tyreese was a kind man. He was part of their group, and Daryl wouldn’t call him a coward after having known some of the Alexandrians, or Father Gabriel, but he protected Judith when it mattered.

 

Sasha and Michonne, as well as the remaining soldiers came down to the street for formal introductions. Daryl wasn’t surprised that Sasha pulled him into a quick hug, but he was a little shocked when she took hold of his and Aaron’s arms to lead them off by the trucks and explain about the men.

 

She and Tyreese located Bob early on. They hadn’t planned on finding the others at first, and they had to dry Bob out regardless. Daryl explained they’d done the same thing with his brother, and the two shared a look that spoke of a common knowledge of that particular nightmare. But Sasha had taken Bob to a rehab center after he got sick. He spent most of the first couple of weeks after they woke up in the center, and then Sasha checked him out when they thought he was over the worst of the withdrawals.

 

They’d found a warehouse in an industrial district to hole up in for the winter. There weren’t that many people in that area to begin with, and that meant the walkers weren’t a big problem for them after they rose again. They’d loaded up on supplies, they’d stockpiled really. And they found a loft area high enough up, and defensible enough that once they’d moved everything in, they felt safe enough.

 

Sasha and Tyreese spent some time weather proofing the windows, and locking the building down in the last stretch. Bob was gathering enough wood for them to burn to stay warm. Hauling everything up to their loft hadn’t been fun, and the electricity in the building had been turned off a long time ago.

 

But once they’d had everything set up, they’d moved the cars into the building and hunkered down through the worst of it. The walkers never made it inside.

 

But eventually, their supplies were dwindling. They’d made it through the winter, but with spring hitting, it was time to make new plans.

 

“We talked about it a lot,” Sasha told them. “Tyreese remembers everything that happened before. Of course, we all do. But he was a little messed up about everything that happened at the prison.”

 

Daryl nodded. Carol had told them about losing Karen and David. About how it happened. Aaron hadn’t known them at the time, but he’d been told about Sasha’s brother, and the people they’d lost at the prison.

 

Sasha looked over their shoulders to the two groups back in the courtyard. “It was him that suggested we come up this way. I think he might have been looking for Karen. But he never said. Just said he wanted to get here again. When we saw the prison, we knew you guys weren’t there. But he still wanted to check out the town.

 

“That’s when we ran into these guys. Aaron, I know you like to wait and watch people for a while, but we’ve been with them for the last month. They’re good people.” Her face was serious, but there was also a little of a pleading tone. “I had a twisted ankle when we first got here and they took care of me. They used their supplies to help me.”

 

Daryl and Aaron were ready to be convinced, but they still asked if there were any of them that seemed like they could be a problem later.

 

“Honestly? No. They look tough, but they’re just lost, I think. None of them want to split up, at least that’s what Franklin told me. But they don’t have a base to go back to. They need a home.”

 

They’d learned the last time after talking with Tara that one of her group had been stationed at Ft. Benning, and that it had been overrun. There was nothing left but thousands of walkers roaming the area. These men were right in that they didn’t have anything to go back to.

 

“Ask Welles about Operation Cobalt,” Sasha added. “The military tried to contain it, but when that didn’t work, they just bombed everything or abandoned it.” She nodded back to the group and they started walking towards the front of the trucks.

 

Daryl made a call into Rick to let him know that they’d found the men, and also to tell him about their friends showing up. He knew the others were going to be making their own calls, and either Michonne or Hank would be letting the armory know.

 

Still, after talking to his partner, he switched the radio over to the armory channel and got Maggie on the line. “So there’s someone you should talk to,” he told her at the same time as he handed the radio over to Sasha.

 

“Hello?” Sasha said into the speaker. She was clearly confused, but it only lasted a moment as Maggie came on the radio. Daryl left the two women to talk and joined the others.

 

The soldiers had their vehicles further into the town, with their flatbed for the tank and Huey. Michonne and Welles had already looked over a map the men had made of the town and marked off areas to loot. The stores were first, then the apartments.

 

They’d found several more walkers in the buildings, and the farm group had handed out ‘silent’ weapons for the soldiers to use instead of their rifles. True to his word, Welles was locking up the second semi by nightfall.

 

With the Humvees and the cabins in the two semis, there was enough room for riders on the way back that they decided to wait another day anyway and fill up the U-hauls. The town had resources, even though it was abandoned, and there were several apartment buildings they hadn’t emptied.

 

Glenn had insisted on being on the run for the soldiers. Less to find the men, more so to scope the town out for anything that could support the expansion of the solar units. While he didn’t find much in the way of solar power in Woodbury, they had passed an upscale neighborhood on the way that might have something they could use.

 

“I don’t think we should fill the extra trucks here,” Glenn told the group that next morning before people broke off to go raiding.

 

It had been Daryl’s suggestion that they empty the place, but they listened to Glenn’s justifications.

 

“We got the manpower,” Welles brought up. “Even if that place is crawling with the dead, it’s got a wall around it, right?” He looked over to Glenn for confirmation.

 

Glenn nodded back, “At least what I saw from the street.” The neighborhood had stone walls on the street front with a gated entrance. The walls were high, but as the trucks had passed it, they climbed a hill. On the inside, Glenn could see a couple walkers, but nothing crazy.

 

“So that should keep any more of them from getting in.” Welles looked over at his men and saw agreement on their faces. “We do a sweep of the place. Load up the trucks.”

 

He was cut off as one of the soldiers mentioned there’d also be some extra room in the Humvees, if they needed more space.

 

After sorting through some supplies for a quick food and water distribution, they loaded everyone up in the convoy and headed out. It would take about half an hour before they could get to the neighborhood from Woodbury. As he was sliding into place next to Michonne, Daryl asked if she thought they’d find other survivors.

 

“It seems strange doesn’t it?” She responded with her own question. “Having a gated neighborhood this close to where the Governor set up shop. Why didn’t he just go there? And if they have solar?”

 

Daryl knew it would be unlikely they’d find other people alive. Glenn had told them about seeing the walkers inside the gate. Still, he hoped they were wrong. But he couldn’t help but think, if they’d just gone a little further than the prison last time… Not as far as Woodbury, but just a little further… Could they have made their own Alexandria? He’d have to see when he got there. Welles was right. If it was fenced, they had almost two dozen people with them. They could clear it fast and take a look around.


End file.
